Fragmented upload and re-stitching of journey instances detected within event data

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are disclosed for efficiently uploading event data of a data intake and processing system and building journey instances using the uploaded event data in a distributed manner. Each journey instance is illustratively associated with a series of events within the event data occurring over a journey duration. For example, a cloud-based hosting system can implement a cloud-based distributed system that receives fragmented uploads of event data from the data intake and query system. Once received, the cloud-based hosting system can combine the event data from one or more uploads and re-stitch portions of the uploaded event data using a set of worker nodes to build journey instances.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 63/059,812, entitled “FRAGMENTED UPLOAD AND RE-STITCHINGOF JOURNEY INSTANCES DETECTED WITHIN EVENT DATA” and filed on Jul. 31,2020, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57 and made apart of this specification.

BACKGROUND

Information technology (IT) environments can include diverse types ofdata systems that store large amounts of diverse data types generated bynumerous devices. For example, a big data ecosystem may includedatabases such as MySQL and Oracle databases, cloud computing servicessuch as Amazon Web Services (AWS), and other data systems that storepassively or actively generated data, including machine-generated data(“machine data”). The machine data can include performance data,diagnostic data, or any other data that can be analyzed to diagnoseequipment performance problems, monitor user interactions, and to deriveother insights.

The large amount and diversity of data systems containing large amountsof structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data relevant to anysearch query can be massive, and continues to grow rapidly. Thistechnological evolution can give rise to various challenges in relationto managing, understanding and effectively utilizing the data. To reducethe potentially vast amount of data that may be generated, some datasystems pre-process data based on anticipated data analysis needs. Inparticular, specified data items may be extracted from the generateddata and stored in a data system to facilitate efficient retrieval andanalysis of those data items at a later time. At least some of theremainder of the generated data is typically discarded duringpre-processing.

However, storing massive quantities of minimally processed orunprocessed data (collectively and individually referred to as “rawdata”) for later retrieval and analysis is becoming increasingly morefeasible as storage capacity becomes more inexpensive and plentiful. Ingeneral, storing raw data and performing analysis on that data later canprovide greater flexibility because it enables an analyst to analyze allof the generated data instead of only a fraction of it.

Although the availability of vastly greater amounts of diverse data ondiverse data systems provides opportunities to derive new insights, italso gives rise to technical challenges to search and analyze the data.Tools exist that allow an analyst to search data systems separately andcollect results over a network for the analyst to derive insights in apiecemeal manner. However, UI tools that allow analysts to quicklysearch and analyze large set of raw machine data to visually identifydata subsets of interest, particularly via straightforward andeasy-to-understand sets of tools and search functionality do not exist.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example, and notlimitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which likereference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example networked computer environment,in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example data intake and query system, inaccordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example cloud-based data intake andquery system, in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example data intake and query systemthat performs searches across external data systems, in accordance withexample embodiments;

FIG. 5A is a flowchart of an example method that illustrates howindexers process, index, and store data received from forwarders, inaccordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 5B is a block diagram of a data structure in which time-stampedevent data can be stored in a data store, in accordance with exampleembodiments;

FIG. 5C provides a visual representation of the manner in which apipelined search language or query operates, in accordance with exampleembodiments;

FIG. 6A is a flow diagram of an example method that illustrates how asearch head and indexers perform a search query, in accordance withexample embodiments;

FIG. 6B provides a visual representation of an example manner in which apipelined command language or query operates, in accordance with exampleembodiments;

FIG. 7A is a diagram of an example scenario where a common customeridentifier is found among log data received from three disparate datasources, in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 7B illustrates an example of processing keyword searches and fieldsearches, in accordance with disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 7C illustrates an example of creating and using an inverted index,in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 7D depicts a flowchart of example use of an inverted index in apipelined search query, in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 8A is an interface diagram of an example user interface for asearch screen, in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 8B is an interface diagram of an example user interface for a datasummary dialog that enables a user to select various data sources, inaccordance with example embodiments;

FIGS. 9-15 are interface diagrams of example report generation userinterfaces, in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 16 is an example search query received from a client and executedby search peers, in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 17A is an interface diagram of an example user interface of a keyindicators view, in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 17B is an interface diagram of an example user interface of anincident review dashboard, in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 17C is a tree diagram of an example a proactive monitoring tree, inaccordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 17D is an interface diagram of an example a user interfacedisplaying both log data and performance data, in accordance withexample embodiments;

FIG. 18 illustrates an example user interface displaying a user journey;

FIG. 19 illustrates an example process for creating a user journey;

FIG. 20 illustrates an example user interface for mapping a fieldidentifier in a particular data source;

FIG. 21 illustrates another example user interface for mapping a fieldidentifier in a particular data source;

FIG. 22 illustrates an example user interface for specifying informationthat is to be recorded for a particular step;

FIG. 23 illustrates a user interface for selecting steps to be includedin a user journey;

FIG. 24 illustrates an example user interface for specifyingcorrelations between data sources selected for a user journey;

FIG. 25 is a user interface illustrating a first example stitchingscheme;

FIG. 26 is a user interface illustrating a second example stitchingscheme;

FIG. 27 is a user interface illustrating a third example stitchingscheme;

FIG. 28 illustrates a representation of steps included in a userjourney;

FIG. 29 is a flowchart of an example process for presenting resultsassociated with a user journey;

FIG. 30 is a flowchart of another example process for presenting resultsassociated with a user journey;

FIG. 31 illustrates an example user interface that includes a userjourney and information indicating clusters associated with the userjourney;

FIG. 32 illustrates an example user interface presenting summaryinformation associated with a user journey;

FIG. 33 illustrates another example user interface presenting summaryinformation associated with a user journey;

FIG. 34 illustrates an example user interface presenting a nested userjourney included in a user journey;

FIG. 35 illustrates an example user interface indicating a path aparticular entity took through steps included in a user journey;

FIG. 36 illustrates an example user interface presenting touchpointsassociated with a particular entity;

FIGS. 37A and 37B illustrate an example user interface for identifyingone or more pivot identifiers and one or more step identifiers;

FIG. 38 is a diagram illustrating an example user interface displayingan embodiment of a journey summarization;

FIGS. 39A, 39B, 40A, 40B, 41, and 42 are diagrams illustrating anexample user interface displaying embodiments of journey summarizations;

FIG. 43 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a routine forenabling identification of one or more pivot identifiers and/or one ormore step identifiers;

FIG. 44 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a routine forgenerating a journey instance or model;

FIG. 45 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a routine foranalyzing journey instances;

FIGS. 46, 47, and 48 are diagrams illustrating embodiments of journeyvisualizations;

FIG. 49A is a block diagram of an example hybrid cloud/privateenvironment, in which a multi-component application may enable access toan on-premises data intake and query system while provided benefitsassociated with use of cloud-provided code;

FIG. 49B is a block diagram of an example hybrid environment utilizingtwo distinct cloud environments;

FIGS. 50 and 51 depict example user interfaces of a multi-componentapplication, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 52 depicts an illustrative flow enabling a client device to beprovided with a multi-component application;

FIG. 53 depicts an illustrative flow for using the on-premises componentas an identity provider for an end user of a client device;

FIG. 54 depicts an illustrative flow for adjusting functionality of afirst component in a multi-component application to maintaincompatibility with a second component;

FIG. 55 depicts an illustrative flow for operation of first and secondcomponents to provide a multi-component application to an end user;

FIGS. 56-58 depict example routines that may be used to provide amulti-component application, as described herein;

FIGS. 59-61 depict example user interfaces for filtering journeyinstances and reviewing filtered instances, in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 62 depicts an illustrative routine for detecting, based on use of astructured data set, alert states occurring with respect to journeyinstances within unstructured data;

FIG. 63 depicts an illustrative flow for efficiently storing informationidentifying journey instances, as generated based on queryingunstructured event data, within a structured data store;

FIG. 64 depicts an illustrative flow for retrieving information ofjourney instances, reflective of events within unstructured event data,from a structured data store;

FIG. 65 depicts an illustrative routine for efficiently storing andretrieving information of journey instances, reflective of events withinunstructured event data, from a structured data store;

FIG. 66 is a block diagram of an example distributed event datare-stitching environment, in which the cloud-based hosting system ofFIGS. 49A-49B can initialize or launch one or more worker nodes tore-stitch portions of uploaded data to build journey instances;

FIG. 67 is a block diagram of the environment of FIG. 66 illustratingthe operations performed by the components of the environment to obtainevent data and to launch and assign event data to one or more workernodes;

FIG. 68 is a block diagram of the environment of FIG. 66 illustratingthe operations performed by the components of the environment to createvertices for various journey identifiers;

FIG. 69 is a block diagram of the environment of FIG. 66 illustratingthe operations performed by the components of the environment toiteratively update vertices for various journey identifiers;

FIG. 70 is a block diagram of the environment of FIG. 66 illustratingthe operations performed by the components of the environment toreassign event data and build or generate journey instances;

FIG. 71 is a flow diagram illustrative of an implementation of a routine7100 implemented by the cloud-based hosting system 4910 to build journeyinstances in a distributed manner; and

FIG. 72 is a block diagram illustrating a high-level example of ahardware architecture of a computing system in which an embodiment maybe implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments are described herein according to the following outline:

1.0. General Overview

2.0. Operating Environment

-   -   2.1. Host Devices    -   2.2. Client Devices    -   2.3. Client Device Applications    -   2.4. Data Server System    -   2.5 Cloud-Based System Overview    -   2.6 Searching Externally-Archived Data        -   2.6.1. ERP Process Features    -   2.7. Data Ingestion        -   2.7.1. Input        -   2.7.2. Parsing        -   2.7.3. Indexing    -   2.8. Query Processing    -   2.9. Pipelined Search Language    -   2.10. Field Extraction    -   2.11. Example Search Screen    -   2.12. Data Modeling    -   2.13. Acceleration Techniques        -   2.13.1. Aggregation Technique        -   2.13.2. Keyword Index        -   2.13.3. High Performance Analytics Store            -   2.13.3.1 Extracting Event Data Using Posting Values        -   2.13.4. Accelerating Report Generation    -   2.14. Security Features    -   2.15. Data Center Monitoring    -   2.16. IT Service Monitoring

3.0 User Journeys

4.0 Journey Instances and Models

-   -   4.1 User Interface Overview        -   4.1.1 Displaying Field Identifiers        -   4.1.2 Selecting Pivot Identifiers and Step Identifiers    -   4.2 Pivot Identifiers        -   4.2.1 Gluing Events    -   4.3 Step Identifiers    -   4.4 Attributes    -   4.5 Journey Summarization Overview    -   4.6 Journey Visualizations        -   4.6.1 Control Selection        -   4.6.2 Journey Model Visualization        -   4.6.3 Clusters of Journey Instances        -   4.6.4 Filtering Journey Instances        -   4.6.5 List Display of Journey Instances    -   4.7 Journey Instance and Model Flows    -   4.8 Additional Journey Visualizations

5.0 Hybrid Cloud/Private Data Environments

-   -   5.1 Example Hybrid Environment    -   5.2 Example User Interfaces    -   5.3 Multi-Component Applications in a Hybrid Cloud/Private        Environment    -   5.4 Example Routines to Provide a Multi-Component Application

6.0 Efficient Alert Notifications from Journey Data

-   -   6.1 Example User Interfaces for Requesting Alert Notification    -   6.2 Example Routine for Efficient Detection of Alert States in        Unstructured Data

7.0 Efficient Storage of Journey Data

8.0 Fragmented Upload and Re-Stitching of Journey Data

9.0 Example Embodiments

10.0 Example Hardware Architecture

In this description, references to “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,” orthe like, mean that the particular feature, function, structure orcharacteristic being described is included in at least one embodiment ofthe technique introduced herein. Occurrences of such phrases in thisspecification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment. Onthe other hand, the embodiments referred to are also not necessarilymutually exclusive.

A data intake and query system can index and store data in data storesof indexers, and can receive search queries causing a search of theindexers to obtain search results. The data intake and query systemtypically has search, extraction, execution, and analytics capabilitiesthat may be limited in scope to the data stores of the indexers(“internal data stores”). Hence, a seamless and comprehensive search andanalysis that includes diverse data types from external data sources,common storage (may also be referred to as global data storage or globaldata stores), ingested data buffers, query acceleration data stores,etc. may be difficult. Thus, the capabilities of some data intake andquery systems remain isolated from a variety of data sources that couldimprove search results to provide new insights. Furthermore, theprocessing flow of some data intake and query systems are unidirectionalin that data is obtained from a data source, processed, and thencommunicated to a search head or client without the ability to routedata to different destinations.

The disclosed embodiments overcome these drawbacks by extending thesearch and analytics capabilities of a data intake and query system toinclude diverse data types stored in diverse data systems internal to orexternal from the data intake and query system. As a result, an analystcan use the data intake and query system to search and analyze data froma wide variety of dataset sources, including enterprise systems and opensource technologies of a big data ecosystem. The term “big data” refersto large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to revealpatterns, trends, and associations, in some cases, relating to humanbehavior and interactions.

In particular, introduced herein is a data intake and query system thatthat has the ability to execute big data analytics seamlessly and canscale across diverse data sources to enable processing large volumes ofdiverse data from diverse data systems. A “data source” can include a“data system,” which may refer to a system that can process and/or storedata. A “data storage system” may refer to a storage system that canstore data such as unstructured, semi-structured, or structured data.Accordingly, a data source can include a data system that includes adata storage system.

The system can improve search and analytics capabilities of previoussystems by employing a search process master and query coordinatorscombined with a scalable network of distributed nodes communicativelycoupled to diverse data systems. The network of distributed nodes canact as agents of the data intake and query system to collect and processdata of distributed data systems, and the search process master andcoordinators can provide the processed data to the search head as searchresults.

For example, the data intake and query system can respond to a query byexecuting search operations on various internal and external datasources to obtain partial search results that are harmonized andpresented as search results of the query. As such, the data intake andquery system can offload search and analytics operations to thedistributed nodes. Hence, the system enables search and analyticscapabilities that can extend beyond the data stored on indexers toinclude external data systems, common storage, query acceleration datastores, ingested data buffers, etc.

The system can provide big data open stack integration to act as a bigdata pipeline that extends the search and analytics capabilities of asystem over numerous and diverse data sources. For example, the systemcan extend the data execution scope of the data intake and query systemto include data residing in external data systems such as MySQL,PostgreSQL, and Oracle databases; NoSQL data stores like Cassandra,Mongo DB; cloud storage like Amazon S3 and Hadoop distributed filesystem (HDFS); common storage; ingested data buffers; etc. Thus, thesystem can execute search and analytics operations for all possiblecombinations of data types stored in various data sources.

The distributed processing of the system enables scalability to includeany number of distributed data systems. As such, queries received by thedata intake and query system can be propagated to the network ofdistributed nodes to extend the search and analytics capabilities of thedata intake and query system over different data sources. In thiscontext, the network of distributed nodes can act as an extension of thelocal data intake in query system's data processing pipeline tofacilitate scalable analytics across the diverse data systems.Accordingly, the system can extend and transform the data intake andquery system to include data resources into a data fabric platform thatcan leverage computing assets from anywhere and access and execute ondata regardless of type or origin.

The disclosed embodiments include services such as new searchcapabilities, visualization tools, and other services that areseamlessly integrated into the DFS system. For example, the disclosedtechniques include new search services performed on internal datastores, external data stores, or a combination of both. The searchoperations can provide ordered or unordered search results, or searchresults derived from data of diverse data systems, which can bevisualized to provide new and useful insights about the data containedin a big data ecosystem.

Various other features of the DFS system introduced here will becomeapparent from the description that follows. First, however, it is usefulto consider an example of an environment and system in which thetechniques can be employed, as will now be described.

1.0. GENERAL OVERVIEW

Modern data centers and other computing environments can compriseanywhere from a few host computer systems to thousands of systemsconfigured to process data, service requests from remote clients, andperform numerous other computational tasks. During operation, variouscomponents within these computing environments often generatesignificant volumes of machine data. Machine data is any data producedby a machine or component in an information technology (IT) environmentand that reflects activity in the IT environment. For example, machinedata can be raw machine data that is generated by various components inIT environments, such as servers, sensors, routers, mobile devices,Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc. Machine data can include systemlogs, network packet data, sensor data, application program data, errorlogs, stack traces, system performance data, etc. In general, machinedata can also include performance data, diagnostic information, and manyother types of data that can be analyzed to diagnose performanceproblems, monitor user interactions, and to derive other insights.

A number of tools are available to analyze machine data. In order toreduce the size of the potentially vast amount of machine data that maybe generated, many of these tools typically pre-process the data basedon anticipated data-analysis needs. For example, pre-specified dataitems may be extracted from the machine data and stored in a database tofacilitate efficient retrieval and analysis of those data items atsearch time. However, the rest of the machine data typically is notsaved and is discarded during pre-processing. As storage capacitybecomes progressively cheaper and more plentiful, there are fewerincentives to discard these portions of machine data and many reasons toretain more of the data.

This plentiful storage capacity is presently making it feasible to storemassive quantities of minimally processed machine data for laterretrieval and analysis. In general, storing minimally processed machinedata and performing analysis operations at search time can providegreater flexibility because it enables an analyst to search all of themachine data, instead of searching only a pre-specified set of dataitems. This may enable an analyst to investigate different aspects ofthe machine data that previously were unavailable for analysis.

However, analyzing and searching massive quantities of machine datapresents a number of challenges. For example, a data center, servers, ornetwork appliances may generate many different types and formats ofmachine data (e.g., system logs, network packet data (e.g., wire data,etc.), sensor data, application program data, error logs, stack traces,system performance data, operating system data, virtualization data,etc.) from thousands of different components, which can collectively bevery time-consuming to analyze. In another example, mobile devices maygenerate large amounts of information relating to data accesses,application performance, operating system performance, networkperformance, etc. There can be millions of mobile devices that reportthese types of information.

These challenges can be addressed by using an event-based data intakeand query system, such as the SPLUNK® ENTERPRISE system developed bySplunk Inc. of San Francisco, Calif. The SPLUNK® ENTERPRISE system isthe leading platform for providing real-time operational intelligencethat enables organizations to collect, index, and search machine datafrom various websites, applications, servers, networks, and mobiledevices that power their businesses. The data intake and query system isparticularly useful for analyzing data which is commonly found in systemlog files, network data, and other data input sources. Although many ofthe techniques described herein are explained with reference to a dataintake and query system similar to the SPLUNK® ENTERPRISE system, thesetechniques are also applicable to other types of data systems.

In the data intake and query system, machine data are collected andstored as “events”. An event comprises a portion of machine data and isassociated with a specific point in time. The portion of machine datamay reflect activity in an IT environment and may be produced by acomponent of that IT environment, where the events may be searched toprovide insight into the IT environment, thereby improving theperformance of components in the IT environment. Events may be derivedfrom “time series data,” where the time series data comprises a sequenceof data points (e.g., performance measurements from a computer system,etc.) that are associated with successive points in time. In general,each event has a portion of machine data that is associated with atimestamp that is derived from the portion of machine data in the event.A timestamp of an event may be determined through interpolation betweentemporally proximate events having known timestamps or may be determinedbased on other configurable rules for associating timestamps withevents.

In some instances, machine data can have a predefined format, where dataitems with specific data formats are stored at predefined locations inthe data. For example, the machine data may include data associated withfields in a database table. In other instances, machine data may nothave a predefined format (e.g., may not be at fixed, predefinedlocations), but may have repeatable (e.g., non-random) patterns. Thismeans that some machine data can comprise various data items ofdifferent data types that may be stored at different locations withinthe data. For example, when the data source is an operating system log,an event can include one or more lines from the operating system logcontaining machine data that includes different types of performance anddiagnostic information associated with a specific point in time (e.g., atimestamp).

Examples of components which may generate machine data from which eventscan be derived include, but are not limited to, web servers, applicationservers, databases, firewalls, routers, operating systems, and softwareapplications that execute on computer systems, mobile devices, sensors,Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc. The machine data generated bysuch data sources can include, for example and without limitation,server log files, activity log files, configuration files, messages,network packet data, performance measurements, sensor measurements, etc.

The data intake and query system uses a flexible schema to specify howto extract information from events. A flexible schema may be developedand redefined as needed. Note that a flexible schema may be applied toevents “on the fly,” when it is needed (e.g., at search time, indextime, ingestion time, etc.). When the schema is not applied to eventsuntil search time, the schema may be referred to as a “late-bindingschema.”

During operation, the data intake and query system receives machine datafrom any type and number of sources (e.g., one or more system logs,streams of network packet data, sensor data, application program data,error logs, stack traces, system performance data, etc.). The systemparses the machine data to produce events each having a portion ofmachine data associated with a timestamp. The system stores the eventsin a data store. The system enables users to run queries against thestored events to, for example, retrieve events that meet criteriaspecified in a query, such as criteria indicating certain keywords orhaving specific values in defined fields. As used herein, the term“field” refers to a location in the machine data of an event containingone or more values for a specific data item. A field may be referencedby a field name associated with the field. As will be described in moredetail herein, a field is defined by an extraction rule (e.g., a regularexpression) that derives one or more values or a sub-portion of textfrom the portion of machine data in each event to produce a value forthe field for that event. The set of values produced aresemantically-related (such as IP address), even though the machine datain each event may be in different formats (e.g., semantically-relatedvalues may be in different positions in the events derived fromdifferent sources).

As described above, the system stores the events in a data store. Theevents stored in the data store are field-searchable, wherefield-searchable herein refers to the ability to search the machine data(e.g., the raw machine data) of an event based on a field specified insearch criteria. For example, a search having criteria that specifies afield name “UserID” may cause the system to field-search the machinedata of events to identify events that have the field name “UserID.” Inanother example, a search having criteria that specifies a field name“UserID” with a corresponding field value “12345” may cause the systemto field-search the machine data of events to identify events havingthat field-value pair (e.g., field name “UserID” with a correspondingfield value of “12345”). Events are field-searchable using one or moreconfiguration files associated with the events. Each configuration fileincludes one or more field names, where each field name is associatedwith a corresponding extraction rule and a set of events to which thatextraction rule applies. The set of events to which an extraction ruleapplies may be identified by metadata associated with the set of events.For example, an extraction rule may apply to a set of events that areeach associated with a particular host, source, or source type. Whenevents are to be searched based on a particular field name specified ina search, the system uses one or more configuration files to determinewhether there is an extraction rule for that particular field name thatapplies to each event that falls within the criteria of the search. Ifso, the event is considered as part of the search results (andadditional processing may be performed on that event based on criteriaspecified in the search). If not, the next event is similarly analyzed,and so on.

As noted above, the data intake and query system utilizes a late-bindingschema while performing queries on events. One aspect of a late-bindingschema is applying extraction rules to events to extract values forspecific fields during search time. More specifically, the extractionrule for a field can include one or more instructions that specify howto extract a value for the field from an event. An extraction rule cangenerally include any type of instruction for extracting values fromevents. In some cases, an extraction rule comprises a regularexpression, where a sequence of characters form a search pattern. Anextraction rule comprising a regular expression is referred to herein asa regex rule. The system applies a regex rule to an event to extractvalues for a field associated with the regex rule, where the values areextracted by searching the event for the sequence of characters definedin the regex rule.

In the data intake and query system, a field extractor may be configuredto automatically generate extraction rules for certain fields in theevents when the events are being created, indexed, or stored, orpossibly at a later time. Alternatively, a user may manually defineextraction rules for fields using a variety of techniques. In contrastto a conventional schema for a database system, a late-binding schema isnot defined at data ingestion time. Instead, the late-binding schema canbe developed on an ongoing basis until the time a query is actuallyexecuted. This means that extraction rules for the fields specified in aquery may be provided in the query itself, or may be located duringexecution of the query. Hence, as a user learns more about the data inthe events, the user can continue to refine the late-binding schema byadding new fields, deleting fields, or modifying the field extractionrules for use the next time the schema is used by the system. Becausethe data intake and query system maintains the underlying machine dataand uses a late-binding schema for searching the machine data, itenables a user to continue investigating and learn valuable insightsabout the machine data.

In some embodiments, a common field name may be used to reference two ormore fields containing equivalent and/or similar data items, even thoughthe fields may be associated with different types of events thatpossibly have different data formats and different extraction rules. Byenabling a common field name to be used to identify equivalent and/orsimilar fields from different types of events generated by disparatedata sources, the system facilitates use of a “common information model”(CIM) across the disparate data sources (further discussed with respectto FIG. 7A).

2.0. OPERATING ENVIRONMENT

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example networked computer environment100, in accordance with example embodiments. Those skilled in the artwould understand that FIG. 1 represents one example of a networkedcomputer system and other embodiments may use different arrangements.

The networked computer system 100 comprises one or more computingdevices. These one or more computing devices comprise any combination ofhardware and software configured to implement the various logicalcomponents described herein. For example, the one or more computingdevices may include one or more memories that store instructions forimplementing the various components described herein, one or morehardware processors configured to execute the instructions stored in theone or more memories, and various data repositories in the one or morememories for storing data structures utilized and manipulated by thevarious components.

In some embodiments, one or more client devices 102 are coupled to oneor more host devices 106 and a data intake and query system 108 via oneor more networks 104. Networks 104 broadly represent one or more LANs,WANs, cellular networks (e.g., LTE, HSPA, 3G, and other cellulartechnologies), and/or networks using any of wired, wireless, terrestrialmicrowave, or satellite links, and may include the public Internet.

2.1. Host Devices

In the illustrated embodiment, a system 100 includes one or more hostdevices 106. Host devices 106 may broadly include any number ofcomputers, virtual machine instances, and/or data centers that areconfigured to host or execute one or more instances of host applications114. In general, a host device 106 may be involved, directly orindirectly, in processing requests received from client devices 102.Each host device 106 may comprise, for example, one or more of a networkdevice, a web server, an application server, a database server, etc. Acollection of host devices 106 may be configured to implement anetwork-based service. For example, a provider of a network-basedservice may configure one or more host devices 106 and host applications114 (e.g., one or more web servers, application servers, databaseservers, etc.) to collectively implement the network-based application.

In general, client devices 102 communicate with one or more hostapplications 114 to exchange information. The communication between aclient device 102 and a host application 114 may, for example, be basedon the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or any other network protocol.Content delivered from the host application 114 to a client device 102may include, for example, hyper-text markup language (HTML) documents,media content, etc. The communication between a client device 102 andhost application 114 may include sending various requests and receivingdata packets. For example, in general, a client device 102 orapplication running on a client device may initiate communication with ahost application 114 by making a request for a specific resource (e.g.,based on an HTTP request), and the application server may respond withthe requested content stored in one or more response packets.

In the illustrated embodiment, one or more of host applications 114 maygenerate various types of performance data during operation, includingevent logs, network data, sensor data, and other types of machine data.For example, a host application 114 comprising a web server may generateone or more web server logs in which details of interactions between theweb server and any number of client devices 102 is recorded. As anotherexample, a host device 106 comprising a router may generate one or morerouter logs that record information related to network traffic managedby the router. As yet another example, a host application 114 comprisinga database server may generate one or more logs that record informationrelated to requests sent from other host applications 114 (e.g., webservers or application servers) for data managed by the database server.

2.2. Client Devices

Client devices 102 of FIG. 1 represent any computing device capable ofinteracting with one or more host devices 106 via a network 104.Examples of client devices 102 may include, without limitation, smartphones, tablet computers, handheld computers, wearable devices, laptopcomputers, desktop computers, servers, portable media players, gamingdevices, and so forth. In general, a client device 102 can provideaccess to different content, for instance, content provided by one ormore host devices 106, etc. Each client device 102 may comprise one ormore client applications 110, described in more detail in a separatesection hereinafter.

2.3. Client Device Applications

In some embodiments, each client device 102 may host or execute one ormore client applications 110 that are capable of interacting with one ormore host devices 106 via one or more networks 104. For instance, aclient application 110 may be or comprise a web browser that a user mayuse to navigate to one or more websites or other resources provided byone or more host devices 106. As another example, a client application110 may comprise a mobile application or “app.” For example, an operatorof a network-based service hosted by one or more host devices 106 maymake available one or more mobile apps that enable users of clientdevices 102 to access various resources of the network-based service. Asyet another example, client applications 110 may include backgroundprocesses that perform various operations without direct interactionfrom a user. A client application 110 may include a “plug-in” or“extension” to another application, such as a web browser plug-in orextension.

In some embodiments, a client application 110 may include a monitoringcomponent 112. At a high level, the monitoring component 112 comprises asoftware component or other logic that facilitates generatingperformance data related to a client device's operating state, includingmonitoring network traffic sent and received from the client device andcollecting other device and/or application-specific information.Monitoring component 112 may be an integrated component of a clientapplication 110, a plug-in, an extension, or any other type of add-oncomponent. Monitoring component 112 may also be a stand-alone process.

In some embodiments, a monitoring component 112 may be created when aclient application 110 is developed, for example, by an applicationdeveloper using a software development kit (SDK). The SDK may includecustom monitoring code that can be incorporated into the codeimplementing a client application 110. When the code is converted to anexecutable application, the custom code implementing the monitoringfunctionality can become part of the application itself.

In some embodiments, an SDK or other code for implementing themonitoring functionality may be offered by a provider of a data intakeand query system, such as a system 108. In such cases, the provider ofthe system 108 can implement the custom code so that performance datagenerated by the monitoring functionality is sent to the system 108 tofacilitate analysis of the performance data by a developer of the clientapplication or other users.

In some embodiments, the custom monitoring code may be incorporated intothe code of a client application 110 in a number of different ways, suchas the insertion of one or more lines in the client application codethat call or otherwise invoke the monitoring component 112. As such, adeveloper of a client application 110 can add one or more lines of codeinto the client application 110 to trigger the monitoring component 112at desired points during execution of the application. Code thattriggers the monitoring component may be referred to as a monitortrigger. For instance, a monitor trigger may be included at or near thebeginning of the executable code of the client application 110 such thatthe monitoring component 112 is initiated or triggered as theapplication is launched, or included at other points in the code thatcorrespond to various actions of the client application, such as sendinga network request or displaying a particular interface.

In some embodiments, the monitoring component 112 may monitor one ormore aspects of network traffic sent and/or received by a clientapplication 110. For example, the monitoring component 112 may beconfigured to monitor data packets transmitted to and/or from one ormore host applications 114. Incoming and/or outgoing data packets can beread or examined to identify network data contained within the packets,for example, and other aspects of data packets can be analyzed todetermine a number of network performance statistics. Monitoring networktraffic may enable information to be gathered particular to the networkperformance associated with a client application 110 or set ofapplications.

In some embodiments, network performance data refers to any type of datathat indicates information about the network and/or network performance.Network performance data may include, for instance, a URL requested, aconnection type (e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, etc.), a connection start time, aconnection end time, an HTTP status code, request length, responselength, request headers, response headers, connection status (e.g.,completion, response time(s), failure, etc.), and the like. Uponobtaining network performance data indicating performance of thenetwork, the network performance data can be transmitted to a dataintake and query system 108 for analysis.

Upon developing a client application 110 that incorporates a monitoringcomponent 112, the client application 110 can be distributed to clientdevices 102. Applications generally can be distributed to client devices102 in any manner, or they can be pre-loaded. In some cases, theapplication may be distributed to a client device 102 via an applicationmarketplace or other application distribution system. For instance, anapplication marketplace or other application distribution system mightdistribute the application to a client device based on a request fromthe client device to download the application.

Examples of functionality that enables monitoring performance of aclient device are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/524,748, entitled “UTILIZING PACKET HEADERS TO MONITOR NETWORKTRAFFIC IN ASSOCIATION WITH A CLIENT DEVICE”, filed on 27 Oct. 2014, andwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for allpurposes.

In some embodiments, the monitoring component 112 may also monitor andcollect performance data related to one or more aspects of theoperational state of a client application 110 and/or client device 102.For example, a monitoring component 112 may be configured to collectdevice performance information by monitoring one or more client deviceoperations, or by making calls to an operating system and/or one or moreother applications executing on a client device 102 for performanceinformation. Device performance information may include, for instance, acurrent wireless signal strength of the device, a current connectiontype and network carrier, current memory performance information, ageographic location of the device, a device orientation, and any otherinformation related to the operational state of the client device.

In some embodiments, the monitoring component 112 may also monitor andcollect other device profile information including, for example, a typeof client device, a manufacturer and model of the device, versions ofvarious software applications installed on the device, and so forth.

In general, a monitoring component 112 may be configured to generateperformance data in response to a monitor trigger in the code of aclient application 110 or other triggering application event, asdescribed above, and to store the performance data in one or more datarecords. Each data record, for example, may include a collection offield-value pairs, each field-value pair storing a particular item ofperformance data in association with a field for the item. For example,a data record generated by a monitoring component 112 may include a“networkLatency” field (not shown in the Figure) in which a value isstored. This field indicates a network latency measurement associatedwith one or more network requests. The data record may include a “state”field to store a value indicating a state of a network connection, andso forth for any number of aspects of collected performance data.

2.4. Data Server System

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example data intake and query system108, in accordance with example embodiments. System 108 includes one ormore forwarders 204 that receive data from a variety of input datasources 202, and one or more indexers 206 that process and store thedata in one or more data stores 208. These forwarders 204 and indexers208 can comprise separate computer systems, or may alternativelycomprise separate processes executing on one or more computer systems.

Each data source 202 broadly represents a distinct source of data thatcan be consumed by system 108. Examples of a data sources 202 include,without limitation, data files, directories of files, data sent over anetwork, event logs, registries, etc.

During operation, the forwarders 204 identify which indexers 206 receivedata collected from a data source 202 and forward the data to theappropriate indexers. Forwarders 204 can also perform operations on thedata before forwarding, including removing extraneous data, detectingtimestamps in the data, parsing data, indexing data, routing data basedon criteria relating to the data being routed, and/or performing otherdata transformations.

In some embodiments, a forwarder 204 may comprise a service accessibleto client devices 102 and host devices 106 via a network 104. Forexample, one type of forwarder 204 may be capable of consuming vastamounts of real-time data from a potentially large number of clientdevices 102 and/or host devices 106. The forwarder 204 may, for example,comprise a computing device which implements multiple data pipelines or“queues” to handle forwarding of network data to indexers 206. Aforwarder 204 may also perform many of the functions that are performedby an indexer. For example, a forwarder 204 may perform keywordextractions on raw data or parse raw data to create events. A forwarder204 may generate time stamps for events. Additionally or alternatively,a forwarder 204 may perform routing of events to indexers 206. Datastore 208 may contain events derived from machine data from a variety ofsources all pertaining to the same component in an IT environment, andthis data may be produced by the machine in question or by othercomponents in the IT environment.

2.5. Cloud-Based System Overview

The example data intake and query system 108 described in reference toFIG. 2 comprises several system components, including one or moreforwarders, indexers, and search heads. In some environments, a user ofa data intake and query system 108 may install and configure, oncomputing devices owned and operated by the user, one or more softwareapplications that implement some or all of these system components. Forexample, a user may install a software application on server computersowned by the user and configure each server to operate as one or more ofa forwarder, an indexer, a search head, etc. This arrangement generallymay be referred to as an “on-premises” solution. That is, the system 108is installed and operates on computing devices directly controlled bythe user of the system. Some users may prefer an on-premises solutionbecause it may provide a greater level of control over the configurationof certain aspects of the system (e.g., security, privacy, standards,controls, etc.). However, other users may instead prefer an arrangementin which the user is not directly responsible for providing and managingthe computing devices upon which various components of system 108operate.

In one embodiment, to provide an alternative to an entirely on-premisesenvironment for system 108, one or more of the components of a dataintake and query system instead may be provided as a cloud-basedservice. In this context, a cloud-based service refers to a servicehosted by one more computing resources that are accessible to end usersover a network, for example, by using a web browser or other applicationon a client device to interface with the remote computing resources. Forexample, a service provider may provide a cloud-based data intake andquery system by managing computing resources configured to implementvarious aspects of the system (e.g., forwarders, indexers, search heads,etc.) and by providing access to the system to end users via a network.Typically, a user may pay a subscription or other fee to use such aservice. Each subscribing user of the cloud-based service may beprovided with an account that enables the user to configure a customizedcloud-based system based on the user's preferences.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example cloud-based data intakeand query system. Similar to the system of FIG. 2 , the networkedcomputer system 300 includes input data sources 202 and forwarders 204.These input data sources and forwarders may be in a subscriber's privatecomputing environment. Alternatively, they might be directly managed bythe service provider as part of the cloud service. In the example system300, one or more forwarders 204 and client devices 302 are coupled to acloud-based data intake and query system 306 via one or more networks304. Network 304 broadly represents one or more LANs, WANs, cellularnetworks, intranetworks, internetworks, etc., using any of wired,wireless, terrestrial microwave, satellite links, etc., and may includethe public Internet, and is used by client devices 302 and forwarders204 to access the system 306. Similar to the system of 38, each of theforwarders 204 may be configured to receive data from an input sourceand to forward the data to other components of the system 306 forfurther processing.

In some embodiments, a cloud-based data intake and query system 306 maycomprise a plurality of system instances 308. In general, each systeminstance 308 may include one or more computing resources managed by aprovider of the cloud-based system 306 made available to a particularsubscriber. The computing resources comprising a system instance 308may, for example, include one or more servers or other devicesconfigured to implement one or more forwarders, indexers, search heads,and other components of a data intake and query system, similar tosystem 108. As indicated above, a subscriber may use a web browser orother application of a client device 302 to access a web portal or otherinterface that enables the subscriber to configure an instance 308.

Providing a data intake and query system as described in reference tosystem 108 as a cloud-based service presents a number of challenges.Each of the components of a system 108 (e.g., forwarders, indexers, andsearch heads) may at times refer to various configuration files storedlocally at each component. These configuration files typically mayinvolve some level of user configuration to accommodate particular typesof data a user desires to analyze and to account for other userpreferences. However, in a cloud-based service context, users typicallymay not have direct access to the underlying computing resourcesimplementing the various system components (e.g., the computingresources comprising each system instance 308) and may desire to makesuch configurations indirectly, for example, using one or more web-basedinterfaces. Thus, the techniques and systems described herein forproviding user interfaces that enable a user to configure source typedefinitions are applicable to both on-premises and cloud-based servicecontexts, or some combination thereof (e.g., a hybrid system where bothan on-premises environment, such as SPLUNK® ENTERPRISE, and acloud-based environment, such as SPLUNK CLOUD™, are centrally visible).

2.6. Searching Externally-Archived Data

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an example of a data intake and querysystem 108 that provides transparent search facilities for data systemsthat are external to the data intake and query system. Such facilitiesare available in the Splunk® Analytics for Hadoop® system provided bySplunk Inc. of San Francisco, Calif. Splunk® Analytics for Hadoop®represents an analytics platform that enables business and IT teams torapidly explore, analyze, and visualize data in Hadoop® and NoSQL datastores.

The search head 210 of the data intake and query system receives searchrequests from one or more client devices 404 over network connections420. As discussed above, the data intake and query system 108 may residein an enterprise location, in the cloud, etc. FIG. 4 illustrates thatmultiple client devices 404 a, 404 b, . . . , 404 n may communicate withthe data intake and query system 108. The client devices 404 maycommunicate with the data intake and query system using a variety ofconnections. For example, one client device in FIG. 4 is illustrated ascommunicating over an Internet (Web) protocol, another client device isillustrated as communicating via a command line interface, and anotherclient device is illustrated as communicating via a software developerkit (SDK).

The search head 210 analyzes the received search request to identifyrequest parameters. If a search request received from one of the clientdevices 404 references an index maintained by the data intake and querysystem, then the search head 210 connects to one or more indexers 206 ofthe data intake and query system for the index referenced in the requestparameters. That is, if the request parameters of the search requestreference an index, then the search head accesses the data in the indexvia the indexer. The data intake and query system 108 may include one ormore indexers 206, depending on system access resources andrequirements. As described further below, the indexers 206 retrieve datafrom their respective local data stores 208 as specified in the searchrequest. The indexers and their respective data stores can comprise oneor more storage devices and typically reside on the same system, thoughthey may be connected via a local network connection.

If the request parameters of the received search request reference anexternal data collection, which is not accessible to the indexers 206 orunder the management of the data intake and query system, then thesearch head 210 can access the external data collection through anExternal Result Provider (ERP) process 410. An external data collectionmay be referred to as a “virtual index” (plural, “virtual indices”). AnERP process provides an interface through which the search head 210 mayaccess virtual indices.

Thus, a search reference to an index of the system relates to a locallystored and managed data collection. In contrast, a search reference to avirtual index relates to an externally stored and managed datacollection, which the search head may access through one or more ERPprocesses 410, 412. FIG. 4 shows two ERP processes 410, 412 that connectto respective remote (external) virtual indices, which are indicated asa Hadoop or another system 414 (e.g., Amazon S3, Amazon EMR, otherHadoop® Compatible File Systems (HCFS), etc.) and a relational databasemanagement system (RDBMS) 416. Other virtual indices may include otherfile organizations and protocols, such as Structured Query Language(SQL) and the like. The ellipses between the ERP processes 410, 412indicate optional additional ERP processes of the data intake and querysystem 108. An ERP process may be a computer process that is initiatedor spawned by the search head 210 and is executed by the search dataintake and query system 108. Alternatively or additionally, an ERPprocess may be a process spawned by the search head 210 on the same ordifferent host system as the search head 210 resides.

The search head 210 may spawn a single ERP process in response tomultiple virtual indices referenced in a search request, or the searchhead may spawn different ERP processes for different virtual indices.Generally, virtual indices that share common data configurations orprotocols may share ERP processes. For example, all search queryreferences to a Hadoop file system may be processed by the same ERPprocess, if the ERP process is suitably configured. Likewise, all searchquery references to a SQL database may be processed by the same ERPprocess. In addition, the search head may provide a common ERP processfor common external data source types (e.g., a common vendor may utilizea common ERP process, even if the vendor includes different data storagesystem types, such as Hadoop and SQL). Common indexing schemes also maybe handled by common ERP processes, such as flat text files or Weblogfiles.

The search head 210 determines the number of ERP processes to beinitiated via the use of configuration parameters that are included in asearch request message. Generally, there is a one-to-many relationshipbetween an external results provider “family” and ERP processes. Thereis also a one-to-many relationship between an ERP process andcorresponding virtual indices that are referred to in a search request.For example, using RDBMS, assume two independent instances of such asystem by one vendor, such as one RDBMS for production and another RDBMSused for development. In such a situation, it is likely preferable (butoptional) to use two ERP processes to maintain the independent operationas between production and development data. Both of the ERPs, however,will belong to the same family, because the two RDBMS system types arefrom the same vendor.

The ERP processes 410, 412 receive a search request from the search head210. The search head may optimize the received search request forexecution at the respective external virtual index. Alternatively, theERP process may receive a search request as a result of analysisperformed by the search head or by a different system process. The ERPprocesses 410, 412 can communicate with the search head 210 viaconventional input/output routines (e.g., standard in /standard out,etc.). In this way, the ERP process receives the search request from aclient device such that the search request may be efficiently executedat the corresponding external virtual index.

The ERP processes 410, 412 may be implemented as a process of the dataintake and query system. Each ERP process may be provided by the dataintake and query system, or may be provided by process or applicationproviders who are independent of the data intake and query system. Eachrespective ERP process may include an interface application installed ata computer of the external result provider that ensures propercommunication between the search support system and the external resultprovider. The ERP processes 410, 412 generate appropriate searchrequests in the protocol and syntax of the respective virtual indices414, 416, each of which corresponds to the search request received bythe search head 210. Upon receiving search results from theircorresponding virtual indices, the respective ERP process passes theresult to the search head 210, which may return or display the resultsor a processed set of results based on the returned results to therespective client device.

Client devices 404 may communicate with the data intake and query system108 through a network interface 420, e.g., one or more LANs, WANs,cellular networks, intranetworks, and/or internetworks using any ofwired, wireless, terrestrial microwave, satellite links, etc., and mayinclude the public Internet.

The analytics platform utilizing the External Result Provider processdescribed in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,738,629, entitled “EXTERNALRESULT PROVIDED PROCESS FOR RETRIEVING DATA STORED USING A DIFFERENTCONFIGURATION OR PROTOCOL”, issued on 27 May 2014, U.S. Pat. No.8,738,587, entitled “PROCESSING A SYSTEM SEARCH REQUEST BY RETRIEVINGRESULTS FROM BOTH A NATIVE INDEX AND A VIRTUAL INDEX”, issued on 25 Jul.2013, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/266,832, entitled “PROCESSINGA SYSTEM SEARCH REQUEST ACROSS DISPARATE DATA COLLECTION SYSTEMS”, filedon 1 May 2014, and U.S. Pat. No. 9,514,189, entitled “PROCESSING ASYSTEM SEARCH REQUEST INCLUDING EXTERNAL DATA SOURCES”, issued on 6 Dec.2016, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entiretyfor all purposes.

2.6.1. ERP Process Features

The ERP processes described above may include two operation modes: astreaming mode and a reporting mode. The ERP processes can operate instreaming mode only, in reporting mode only, or in both modessimultaneously. Operating in both modes simultaneously is referred to asmixed mode operation. In a mixed mode operation, the ERP at some pointcan stop providing the search head with streaming results and onlyprovide reporting results thereafter, or the search head at some pointmay start ignoring streaming results it has been using and only usereporting results thereafter.

The streaming mode returns search results in real time, with minimalprocessing, in response to the search request. The reporting modeprovides results of a search request with processing of the searchresults prior to providing them to the requesting search head, which inturn provides results to the requesting client device. ERP operationwith such multiple modes provides greater performance flexibility withregard to report time, search latency, and resource utilization.

In a mixed mode operation, both streaming mode and reporting mode areoperating simultaneously. The streaming mode results (e.g., the machinedata obtained from the external data source) are provided to the searchhead, which can then process the results data (e.g., break the machinedata into events, timestamp it, filter it, etc.) and integrate theresults data with the results data from other external data sources,and/or from data stores of the search head. The search head performssuch processing and can immediately start returning interim (streamingmode) results to the user at the requesting client device;simultaneously, the search head is waiting for the ERP process toprocess the data it is retrieving from the external data source as aresult of the concurrently executing reporting mode.

In some instances, the ERP process initially operates in a mixed mode,such that the streaming mode operates to enable the ERP quickly toreturn interim results (e.g., some of the machined data or unprocesseddata necessary to respond to a search request) to the search head,enabling the search head to process the interim results and beginproviding to the client or search requester interim results that areresponsive to the query. Meanwhile, in this mixed mode, the ERP alsooperates concurrently in reporting mode, processing portions of machinedata in a manner responsive to the search query. Upon determining thatit has results from the reporting mode available to return to the searchhead, the ERP may halt processing in the mixed mode at that time (orsome later time) by stopping the return of data in streaming mode to thesearch head and switching to reporting mode only. The ERP at this pointstarts sending interim results in reporting mode to the search head,which in turn may then present this processed data responsive to thesearch request to the client or search requester. Typically the searchhead switches from using results from the ERP's streaming mode ofoperation to results from the ERP's reporting mode of operation when thehigher bandwidth results from the reporting mode outstrip the amount ofdata processed by the search head in the streaming mode of ERPoperation.

A reporting mode may have a higher bandwidth because the ERP does nothave to spend time transferring data to the search head for processingall the machine data. In addition, the ERP may optionally direct anotherprocessor to do the processing.

The streaming mode of operation does not need to be stopped to gain thehigher bandwidth benefits of a reporting mode; the search head couldsimply stop using the streaming mode results—and start using thereporting mode results—when the bandwidth of the reporting mode hascaught up with or exceeded the amount of bandwidth provided by thestreaming mode. Thus, a variety of triggers and ways to accomplish asearch head's switch from using streaming mode results to usingreporting mode results may be appreciated by one skilled in the art.

The reporting mode can involve the ERP process (or an external system)performing event breaking, time stamping, filtering of events to matchthe search query request, and calculating statistics on the results. Theuser can request particular types of data, such as if the search queryitself involves types of events, or the search request may ask forstatistics on data, such as on events that meet the search request. Ineither case, the search head understands the query language used in thereceived query request, which may be a proprietary language. Oneexemplary query language is Splunk Processing Language (SPL) developedby the assignee of the application, Splunk Inc. The search headtypically understands how to use that language to obtain data from theindexers, which store data in a format used by the SPLUNK® Enterprisesystem.

The ERP processes support the search head, as the search head is notordinarily configured to understand the format in which data is storedin external data sources such as Hadoop or SQL data systems. Rather, theERP process performs that translation from the query submitted in thesearch support system's native format (e.g., SPL if SPLUNK® ENTERPRISEis used as the search support system) to a search query request formatthat will be accepted by the corresponding external data system. Theexternal data system typically stores data in a different format fromthat of the search support system's native index format, and it utilizesa different query language (e.g., SQL or MapReduce, rather than SPL orthe like).

As noted, the ERP process can operate in the streaming mode alone. Afterthe ERP process has performed the translation of the query request andreceived raw results from the streaming mode, the search head canintegrate the returned data with any data obtained from local datasources (e.g., native to the search support system), other external datasources, and other ERP processes (if such operations were required tosatisfy the terms of the search query). An advantage of mixed modeoperation is that, in addition to streaming mode, the ERP process isalso executing concurrently in reporting mode. Thus, the ERP process(rather than the search head) is processing query results (e.g.,performing event breaking, timestamping, filtering, possibly calculatingstatistics if required to be responsive to the search query request,etc.). It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that additionaltime is needed for the ERP process to perform the processing in such aconfiguration. Therefore, the streaming mode will allow the search headto start returning interim results to the user at the client devicebefore the ERP process can complete sufficient processing to startreturning any search results. The switchover between streaming andreporting mode happens when the ERP process determines that theswitchover is appropriate, such as when the ERP process determines itcan begin returning meaningful results from its reporting mode.

The operation described above illustrates the source of operationallatency: streaming mode has low latency (immediate results) and usuallyhas relatively low bandwidth (fewer results can be returned per unit oftime). In contrast, the concurrently running reporting mode hasrelatively high latency (it has to perform a lot more processing beforereturning any results) and usually has relatively high bandwidth (moreresults can be processed per unit of time). For example, when the ERPprocess does begin returning report results, it returns more processedresults than in the streaming mode, because, e.g., statistics only needto be calculated to be responsive to the search request. That is, theERP process doesn't have to take time to first return machine data tothe search head. As noted, the ERP process could be configured tooperate in streaming mode alone and return just the machine data for thesearch head to process in a way that is responsive to the searchrequest. Alternatively, the ERP process can be configured to operate inthe reporting mode only. Also, the ERP process can be configured tooperate in streaming mode and reporting mode concurrently, as described,with the ERP process stopping the transmission of streaming results tothe search head when the concurrently running reporting mode has caughtup and started providing results. The reporting mode does not requirethe processing of all machine data that is responsive to the searchquery request before the ERP process starts returning results; rather,the reporting mode usually performs processing of chunks of events andreturns the processing results to the search head for each chunk.

For example, an ERP process can be configured to merely return thecontents of a search result file verbatim, with little or no processingof results. That way, the search head performs all processing (such asparsing byte streams into events, filtering, etc.). The ERP process canbe configured to perform additional intelligence, such as analyzing thesearch request and handling all the computation that a native searchindexer process would otherwise perform. In this way, the configured ERPprocess provides greater flexibility in features while operatingaccording to desired preferences, such as response latency and resourcerequirements.

2.7. Data Ingestion

FIG. 5A is a flow chart of an example method that illustrates howindexers process, index, and store data received from forwarders, inaccordance with example embodiments. The data flow illustrated in FIG.5A is provided for illustrative purposes only; those skilled in the artwould understand that one or more of the steps of the processesillustrated in FIG. 5A may be removed or that the ordering of the stepsmay be changed. Furthermore, for the purposes of illustrating a clearexample, one or more particular system components are described in thecontext of performing various operations during each of the data flowstages. For example, a forwarder is described as receiving andprocessing machine data during an input phase; an indexer is describedas parsing and indexing machine data during parsing and indexing phases;and a search head is described as performing a search query during asearch phase. However, other system arrangements and distributions ofthe processing steps across system components may be used.

2.7.1. Input

At block 502, a forwarder receives data from an input source, such as adata source 202 shown in FIG. 2 . A forwarder initially may receive thedata as a raw data stream generated by the input source. For example, aforwarder may receive a data stream from a log file generated by anapplication server, from a stream of network data from a network device,or from any other source of data. In some embodiments, a forwarderreceives the raw data and may segment the data stream into “blocks”,possibly of a uniform data size, to facilitate subsequent processingsteps.

At block 504, a forwarder or other system component annotates each blockgenerated from the raw data with one or more metadata fields. Thesemetadata fields may, for example, provide information related to thedata block as a whole and may apply to each event that is subsequentlyderived from the data in the data block. For example, the metadatafields may include separate fields specifying each of a host, a source,and a source type related to the data block. A host field may contain avalue identifying a host name or IP address of a device that generatedthe data. A source field may contain a value identifying a source of thedata, such as a pathname of a file or a protocol and port related toreceived network data. A source type field may contain a valuespecifying a particular source type label for the data. Additionalmetadata fields may also be included during the input phase, such as acharacter encoding of the data, if known, and possibly other values thatprovide information relevant to later processing steps. In someembodiments, a forwarder forwards the annotated data blocks to anothersystem component (typically an indexer) for further processing.

The data intake and query system allows forwarding of data from one dataintake and query instance to another, or even to a third-party system.The data intake and query system can employ different types offorwarders in a configuration.

In some embodiments, a forwarder may contain the essential componentsneeded to forward data. A forwarder can gather data from a variety ofinputs and forward the data to an indexer for indexing and searching. Aforwarder can also tag metadata (e.g., source, source type, host, etc.).

In some embodiments, a forwarder has the capabilities of theaforementioned forwarder as well as additional capabilities. Theforwarder can parse data before forwarding the data (e.g., can associatea time stamp with a portion of data and create an event, etc.) and canroute data based on criteria such as source or type of event. Theforwarder can also index data locally while forwarding the data toanother indexer.

2.7.2. Parsing

At block 506, an indexer receives data blocks from a forwarder andparses the data to organize the data into events. In some embodiments,to organize the data into events, an indexer may determine a source typeassociated with each data block (e.g., by extracting a source type labelfrom the metadata fields associated with the data block, etc.) and referto a source type configuration corresponding to the identified sourcetype. The source type definition may include one or more properties thatindicate to the indexer to automatically determine the boundaries withinthe received data that indicate the portions of machine data for events.In general, these properties may include regular expression-based rulesor delimiter rules where, for example, event boundaries may be indicatedby predefined characters or character strings. These predefinedcharacters may include punctuation marks or other special charactersincluding, for example, carriage returns, tabs, spaces, line breaks,etc. If a source type for the data is unknown to the indexer, an indexermay infer a source type for the data by examining the structure of thedata. Then, the indexer can apply an inferred source type definition tothe data to create the events.

At block 508, the indexer determines a timestamp for each event. Similarto the process for parsing machine data, an indexer may again refer to asource type definition associated with the data to locate one or moreproperties that indicate instructions for determining a timestamp foreach event. The properties may, for example, instruct an indexer toextract a time value from a portion of data for the event, tointerpolate time values based on timestamps associated with temporallyproximate events, to create a timestamp based on a time the portion ofmachine data was received or generated, to use the timestamp of aprevious event, or use any other rules for determining timestamps.

At block 510, the indexer associates with each event one or moremetadata fields including a field containing the timestamp determinedfor the event. In some embodiments, a timestamp may be included in themetadata fields. These metadata fields may include any number of“default fields” that are associated with all events, and may alsoinclude one more custom fields as defined by a user. Similar to themetadata fields associated with the data blocks at block 504, thedefault metadata fields associated with each event may include a host,source, and source type field including or in addition to a fieldstoring the timestamp.

At block 512, an indexer may optionally apply one or moretransformations to data included in the events created at block 506. Forexample, such transformations can include removing a portion of an event(e.g., a portion used to define event boundaries, extraneous charactersfrom the event, other extraneous text, etc.), masking a portion of anevent (e.g., masking a credit card number), removing redundant portionsof an event, etc. The transformations applied to events may, forexample, be specified in one or more configuration files and referencedby one or more source type definitions.

FIG. 5C illustrates an illustrative example of machine data can bestored in a data store in accordance with various disclosed embodiments.In other embodiments, machine data can be stored in a flat file in acorresponding bucket with an associated index file, such as a timeseries index or “TSIDX.” As such, the depiction of machine data andassociated metadata as rows and columns in the table of FIG. 5C ismerely illustrative and is not intended to limit the data format inwhich the machine data and metadata is stored in various embodimentsdescribed herein. In one particular embodiment, machine data can bestored in a compressed or encrypted formatted. In such embodiments, themachine data can be stored with or be associated with data thatdescribes the compression or encryption scheme with which the machinedata is stored. The information about the compression or encryptionscheme can be used to decompress or decrypt the machine data, and anymetadata with which it is stored, at search time.

As mentioned above, certain metadata, e.g., host 536, source 537, sourcetype 538 and timestamps 535 can be generated for each event, andassociated with a corresponding portion of machine data 539 when storingthe event data in a data store, e.g., data store 208. Any of themetadata can be extracted from the corresponding machine data, orsupplied or defined by an entity, such as a user or computer system. Themetadata fields can become part of or stored with the event. Note thatwhile the time-stamp metadata field can be extracted from the raw dataof each event, the values for the other metadata fields may bedetermined by the indexer based on information it receives pertaining tothe source of the data separate from the machine data.

While certain default or user-defined metadata fields can be extractedfrom the machine data for indexing purposes, all the machine data withinan event can be maintained in its original condition. As such, inembodiments in which the portion of machine data included in an event isunprocessed or otherwise unaltered, it is referred to herein as aportion of raw machine data. In other embodiments, the port of machinedata in an event can be processed or otherwise altered. As such, unlesscertain information needs to be removed for some reasons (e.g.extraneous information, confidential information), all the raw machinedata contained in an event can be preserved and saved in its originalform. Accordingly, the data store in which the event records are storedis sometimes referred to as a “raw record data store.” The raw recorddata store contains a record of the raw event data tagged with thevarious default fields.

In FIG. 5C, the first three rows of the table represent events 531, 532,and 533 and are related to a server access log that records requestsfrom multiple clients processed by a server, as indicated by entry of“access.log” in the source column 536.

In the example shown in FIG. 5C, each of the events 531-534 isassociated with a discrete request made from a client device. The rawmachine data generated by the server and extracted from a server accesslog can include the IP address of the client 540, the user id of theperson requesting the document 541, the time the server finishedprocessing the request 542, the request line from the client 543, thestatus code returned by the server to the client 545, the size of theobject returned to the client (in this case, the gif file requested bythe client) 546 and the time spent to serve the request in microseconds544. As seen in FIG. 5C, all the raw machine data retrieved from theserver access log is retained and stored as part of the correspondingevents, 1221, 1222, and 1223 in the data store.

Event 534 is associated with an entry in a server error log, asindicated by “error.log” in the source column 537, that records errorsthat the server encountered when processing a client request. Similar tothe events related to the server access log, all the raw machine data inthe error log file pertaining to event 534 can be preserved and storedas part of the event 534.

Saving minimally processed or unprocessed machine data in a data storeassociated with metadata fields in the manner similar to that shown inFIG. 5C is advantageous because it allows search of all the machine dataat search time instead of searching only previously specified andidentified fields or field-value pairs. As mentioned above, because datastructures used by various embodiments of the present disclosuremaintain the underlying raw machine data and use a late-binding schemafor searching the raw machines data, it enables a user to continueinvestigating and learn valuable insights about the raw data. In otherwords, the user is not compelled to know about all the fields ofinformation that will be needed at data ingestion time. As a user learnsmore about the data in the events, the user can continue to refine thelate-binding schema by defining new extraction rules, or modifying ordeleting existing extraction rules used by the system.

2.7.3. Indexing

At blocks 514 and 516, an indexer can optionally generate a keywordindex to facilitate fast keyword searching for events. To build akeyword index, at block 514, the indexer identifies a set of keywords ineach event. At block 516, the indexer includes the identified keywordsin an index, which associates each stored keyword with referencepointers to events containing that keyword (or to locations withinevents where that keyword is located, other location identifiers, etc.).When an indexer subsequently receives a keyword-based query, the indexercan access the keyword index to quickly identify events containing thekeyword.

In some embodiments, the keyword index may include entries for fieldname-value pairs found in events, where a field name-value pair caninclude a pair of keywords connected by a symbol, such as an equals signor colon. This way, events containing these field name-value pairs canbe quickly located. In some embodiments, fields can automatically begenerated for some or all of the field names of the field name-valuepairs at the time of indexing. For example, if the string“dest=10.0.1.2” is found in an event, a field named “dest” may becreated for the event, and assigned a value of “10.0.1.2”.

At block 518, the indexer stores the events with an associated timestampin a data store 208. Timestamps enable a user to search for events basedon a time range. In some embodiments, the stored events are organizedinto “buckets,” where each bucket stores events associated with aspecific time range based on the timestamps associated with each event.This improves time-based searching, as well as allows for events withrecent timestamps, which may have a higher likelihood of being accessed,to be stored in a faster memory to facilitate faster retrieval. Forexample, buckets containing the most recent events can be stored inflash memory rather than on a hard disk. In some embodiments, eachbucket may be associated with an identifier, a time range, and a sizeconstraint.

Each indexer 206 may be responsible for storing and searching a subsetof the events contained in a corresponding data store 208. Bydistributing events among the indexers and data stores, the indexers cananalyze events for a query in parallel. For example, using map-reducetechniques, each indexer returns partial responses for a subset ofevents to a search head that combines the results to produce an answerfor the query. By storing events in buckets for specific time ranges, anindexer may further optimize the data retrieval process by searchingbuckets corresponding to time ranges that are relevant to a query.

In some embodiments, each indexer has a home directory and a colddirectory. The home directory of an indexer stores hot buckets and warmbuckets, and the cold directory of an indexer stores cold buckets. A hotbucket is a bucket that is capable of receiving and storing events. Awarm bucket is a bucket that can no longer receive events for storagebut has not yet been moved to the cold directory. A cold bucket is abucket that can no longer receive events and may be a bucket that waspreviously stored in the home directory. The home directory may bestored in faster memory, such as flash memory, as events may be activelywritten to the home directory, and the home directory may typicallystore events that are more frequently searched and thus are accessedmore frequently. The cold directory may be stored in slower and/orlarger memory, such as a hard disk, as events are no longer beingwritten to the cold directory, and the cold directory may typicallystore events that are not as frequently searched and thus are accessedless frequently. In some embodiments, an indexer may also have aquarantine bucket that contains events having potentially inaccurateinformation, such as an incorrect time stamp associated with the eventor a time stamp that appears to be an unreasonable time stamp for thecorresponding event. The quarantine bucket may have events from any timerange; as such, the quarantine bucket may always be searched at searchtime. Additionally, an indexer may store old, archived data in a frozenbucket that is not capable of being searched at search time. In someembodiments, a frozen bucket may be stored in slower and/or largermemory, such as a hard disk, and may be stored in offline and/or remotestorage.

Moreover, events and buckets can also be replicated across differentindexers and data stores to facilitate high availability and disasterrecovery as described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,130,971, entitled “SITE-BASEDSEARCH AFFINITY”, issued on 8 Sep. 2015, and in U.S. patent Ser. No.14/266,817, entitled “MULTI-SITE CLUSTERING”. issued on 1 Sep. 2015,each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety forall purposes.

FIG. 5B is a block diagram of an example data store 501 that includes adirectory for each index (or partition) that contains a portion of datamanaged by an indexer. FIG. 5B further illustrates details of anembodiment of an inverted index 507B and an event reference array 515associated with inverted index 507B.

The data store 501 can correspond to a data store 208 that stores eventsmanaged by an indexer 206 or can correspond to a different data storeassociated with an indexer 206. In the illustrated embodiment, the datastore 501 includes a _main directory 503 associated with a _main indexand a _test directory 505 associated with a _test index. However, thedata store 501 can include fewer or more directories. In someembodiments, multiple indexes can share a single directory or allindexes can share a common directory. Additionally, although illustratedas a single data store 501, it will be understood that the data store501 can be implemented as multiple data stores storing differentportions of the information shown in FIG. 5B. For example, a singleindex or partition can span multiple directories or multiple datastores, and can be indexed or searched by multiple correspondingindexers.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 5B, the index-specific directories503 and 505 include inverted indexes 507A, 507B and 509A, 509B,respectively. The inverted indexes 507A . . . 507B, and 509A . . . 509Bcan be keyword indexes or field-value pair indexes described herein andcan include less or more information that depicted in FIG. 5B.

In some embodiments, the inverted index 507A . . . 507B, and 509A . . .509B can correspond to a distinct time-series bucket that is managed bythe indexer 206 and that contains events corresponding to the relevantindex (e.g., _main index, _test index). As such, each inverted index cancorrespond to a particular range of time for an index. Additional files,such as high performance indexes for each time-series bucket of anindex, can also be stored in the same directory as the inverted indexes507A . . . 507B, and 509A . . . 509B. In some embodiments inverted index507A . . . 507B, and 509A . . . 509B can correspond to multipletime-series buckets or inverted indexes 507A . . . 507B, and 509A . . .509B can correspond to a single time-series bucket.

Each inverted index 507A . . . 507B, and 509A . . . 509B can include oneor more entries, such as keyword (or token) entries or field-value pairentries. Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the inverted indexes 507A. . . 507B, and 509A . . . 509B can include additional information, suchas a time range 523 associated with the inverted index or an indexidentifier 525 identifying the index associated with the inverted index507A . . . 507B, and 509A . . . 509B. However, each inverted index 507A. . . 507B, and 509A . . . 509B can include less or more informationthan depicted.

Token entries, such as token entries 511 illustrated in inverted index507B, can include a token 511A (e.g., “error,” “itemID,” etc.) and eventreferences 511B indicative of events that include the token. Forexample, for the token “error,” the corresponding token entry includesthe token “error” and an event reference, or unique identifier, for eachevent stored in the corresponding time-series bucket that includes thetoken “error.” In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 5B, the error tokenentry includes the identifiers 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, and 12 corresponding toevents managed by the indexer 206 and associated with the index _main503 that are located in the time-series bucket associated with theinverted index 507B.

In some cases, some token entries can be default entries, automaticallydetermined entries, or user specified entries. In some embodiments, theindexer 206 can identify each word or string in an event as a distincttoken and generate a token entry for it. In some cases, the indexer 206can identify the beginning and ending of tokens based on punctuation,spaces, as described in greater detail herein. In certain cases, theindexer 206 can rely on user input or a configuration file to identifytokens for token entries 511, etc. It will be understood that anycombination of token entries can be included as a default, automaticallydetermined, a or included based on user-specified criteria.

Similarly, field-value pair entries, such as field-value pair entries513 shown in inverted index 507B, can include a field-value pair 513Aand event references 513B indicative of events that include a fieldvalue that corresponds to the field-value pair. For example, for afield-value pair sourcetype::sendmail, a field-value pair entry wouldinclude the field-value pair sourcetype::sendmail and a uniqueidentifier, or event reference, for each event stored in thecorresponding time-series bucket that includes a sendmail sourcetype.

In some cases, the field-value pair entries 513 can be default entries,automatically determined entries, or user specified entries. As anon-limiting example, the field-value pair entries for the fields host,source, sourcetype can be included in the inverted indexes 507A . . .507B, and 509A . . . 509B as a default. As such, all of the invertedindexes 507A . . . 507B, and 509A . . . 509B can include field-valuepair entries for the fields host, source, sourcetype. As yet anothernon-limiting example, the field-value pair entries for the IP_addressfield can be user specified and may only appear in the inverted index507B based on user-specified criteria. As another non-limiting example,as the indexer indexes the events, it can automatically identifyfield-value pairs and create field-value pair entries. For example,based on the indexers review of events, it can identify IP_address as afield in each event and add the IP_address field-value pair entries tothe inverted index 507B. It will be understood that any combination offield-value pair entries can be included as a default, automaticallydetermined, or included based on user-specified criteria.

Each unique identifier 517, or event reference, can correspond to aunique event located in the time series bucket. However, the same eventreference can be located in multiple entries. For example if an eventhas a sourcetype splunkd, host www1 and token “warning,” then the uniqueidentifier for the event will appear in the field-value pair entriessourcetype::splunkd and host::www1, as well as the token entry“warning.” With reference to the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 5B andthe event that corresponds to the event reference 3, the event reference3 is found in the field-value pair entries 513 host::hostA,source::sourceB, sourcetype::sourcetypeA, and IP_address::91.205.189.15indicating that the event corresponding to the event references is fromhostA, sourceB, of sourcetypeA, and includes 91.205.189.15 in the eventdata.

For some fields, the unique identifier is located in only onefield-value pair entry for a particular field. For example, the invertedindex may include four sourcetype field-value pair entries correspondingto four different sourcetypes of the events stored in a bucket (e.g.,sourcetypes: sendmail, splunkd, web_access, and web_service). Withinthose four sourcetype field-value pair entries, an identifier for aparticular event may appear in only one of the field-value pair entries.With continued reference to the example illustrated embodiment of FIG.5B, since the event reference 7 appears in the field-value pair entrysourcetype::sourcetypeA, then it does not appear in the otherfield-value pair entries for the sourcetype field, includingsourcetype::sourcetypeB, sourcetype::sourcetypeC, andsourcetype::sourcetypeD.

The event references 517 can be used to locate the events in thecorresponding bucket. For example, the inverted index can include, or beassociated with, an event reference array 515. The event reference array515 can include an array entry 517 for each event reference in theinverted index 507B. Each array entry 517 can include locationinformation 519 of the event corresponding to the unique identifier(non-limiting example: seek address of the event), a timestamp 521associated with the event, or additional information regarding the eventassociated with the event reference, etc.

For each token entry 511 or field-value pair entry 513, the eventreference 501B or unique identifiers can be listed in chronologicalorder or the value of the event reference can be assigned based onchronological data, such as a timestamp associated with the eventreferenced by the event reference. For example, the event reference 1 inthe illustrated embodiment of FIG. 5B can correspond to thefirst-in-time event for the bucket, and the event reference 12 cancorrespond to the last-in-time event for the bucket. However, the eventreferences can be listed in any order, such as reverse chronologicalorder, ascending order, descending order, or some other order, etc.Further, the entries can be sorted. For example, the entries can besorted alphabetically (collectively or within a particular group), byentry origin (e.g., default, automatically generated, user-specified,etc.), by entry type (e.g., field-value pair entry, token entry, etc.),or chronologically by when added to the inverted index, etc. In theillustrated embodiment of FIG. 5B, the entries are sorted first by entrytype and then alphabetically.

As a non-limiting example of how the inverted indexes 507A . . . 507B,and 509A . . . 509B can be used during a data categorization requestcommand, the indexers can receive filter criteria indicating data thatis to be categorized and categorization criteria indicating how the datais to be categorized. Example filter criteria can include, but is notlimited to, indexes (or partitions), hosts, sources, sourcetypes, timeranges, field identifier, keywords, etc.

Using the filter criteria, the indexer identifies relevant invertedindexes to be searched. For example, if the filter criteria includes aset of partitions, the indexer can identify the inverted indexes storedin the directory corresponding to the particular partition as relevantinverted indexes. Other means can be used to identify inverted indexesassociated with a partition of interest. For example, in someembodiments, the indexer can review an entry in the inverted indexes,such as an index-value pair entry 513 to determine if a particularinverted index is relevant. If the filter criteria does not identify anypartition, then the indexer can identify all inverted indexes managed bythe indexer as relevant inverted indexes.

Similarly, if the filter criteria includes a time range, the indexer canidentify inverted indexes corresponding to buckets that satisfy at leasta portion of the time range as relevant inverted indexes. For example,if the time range is last hour then the indexer can identify allinverted indexes that correspond to buckets storing events associatedwith timestamps within the last hour as relevant inverted indexes.

When used in combination, an index filter criterion specifying one ormore partitions and a time range filter criterion specifying aparticular time range can be used to identify a subset of invertedindexes within a particular directory (or otherwise associated with aparticular partition) as relevant inverted indexes. As such, the indexercan focus the processing to only a subset of the total number ofinverted indexes that the indexer manages.

Once the relevant inverted indexes are identified, the indexer canreview them using any additional filter criteria to identify events thatsatisfy the filter criteria. In some cases, using the known location ofthe directory in which the relevant inverted indexes are located, theindexer can determine that any events identified using the relevantinverted indexes satisfy an index filter criterion. For example, if thefilter criteria includes a partition main, then the indexer candetermine that any events identified using inverted indexes within thepartition main directory (or otherwise associated with the partitionmain) satisfy the index filter criterion.

Furthermore, based on the time range associated with each invertedindex, the indexer can determine that that any events identified using aparticular inverted index satisfies a time range filter criterion. Forexample, if a time range filter criterion is for the last hour and aparticular inverted index corresponds to events within a time range of50 minutes ago to 35 minutes ago, the indexer can determine that anyevents identified using the particular inverted index satisfy the timerange filter criterion. Conversely, if the particular inverted indexcorresponds to events within a time range of 59 minutes ago to 62minutes ago, the indexer can determine that some events identified usingthe particular inverted index may not satisfy the time range filtercriterion.

Using the inverted indexes, the indexer can identify event references(and therefore events) that satisfy the filter criteria. For example, ifthe token “error” is a filter criterion, the indexer can track all eventreferences within the token entry “error.” Similarly, the indexer canidentify other event references located in other token entries orfield-value pair entries that match the filter criteria. The system canidentify event references located in all of the entries identified bythe filter criteria. For example, if the filter criteria include thetoken “error” and field-value pair sourcetype::web_ui, the indexer cantrack the event references found in both the token entry “error” and thefield-value pair entry sourcetype::web_ui. As mentioned previously, insome cases, such as when multiple values are identified for a particularfilter criterion (e.g., multiple sources for a source filter criterion),the system can identify event references located in at least one of theentries corresponding to the multiple values and in all other entriesidentified by the filter criteria. The indexer can determine that theevents associated with the identified event references satisfy thefilter criteria.

In some cases, the indexer can further consult a timestamp associatedwith the event reference to determine whether an event satisfies thefilter criteria. For example, if an inverted index corresponds to a timerange that is partially outside of a time range filter criterion, thenthe indexer can consult a timestamp associated with the event referenceto determine whether the corresponding event satisfies the time rangecriterion. In some embodiments, to identify events that satisfy a timerange, the indexer can review an array, such as the event referencearray 1614 that identifies the time associated with the events.Furthermore, as mentioned above using the known location of thedirectory in which the relevant inverted indexes are located (or otherindex identifier), the indexer can determine that any events identifiedusing the relevant inverted indexes satisfy the index filter criterion.

In some cases, based on the filter criteria, the indexer reviews anextraction rule. In certain embodiments, if the filter criteria includesa field name that does not correspond to a field-value pair entry in aninverted index, the indexer can review an extraction rule, which may belocated in a configuration file, to identify a field that corresponds toa field-value pair entry in the inverted index.

For example, the filter criteria includes a field name “sessionID” andthe indexer determines that at least one relevant inverted index doesnot include a field-value pair entry corresponding to the field namesessionID, the indexer can review an extraction rule that identifies howthe sessionID field is to be extracted from a particular host, source,or sourcetype (implicitly identifying the particular host, source, orsourcetype that includes a sessionID field). The indexer can replace thefield name “sessionID” in the filter criteria with the identified host,source, or sourcetype. In some cases, the field name “sessionID” may beassociated with multiples hosts, sources, or sourcetypes, in which case,all identified hosts, sources, and sourcetypes can be added as filtercriteria. In some cases, the identified host, source, or sourcetype canreplace or be appended to a filter criterion, or be excluded. Forexample, if the filter criteria includes a criterion for source S1 andthe “sessionID” field is found in source S2, the source S2 can replaceS1 in the filter criteria, be appended such that the filter criteriaincludes source S1 and source S2, or be excluded based on the presenceof the filter criterion source S1. If the identified host, source, orsourcetype is included in the filter criteria, the indexer can thenidentify a field-value pair entry in the inverted index that includes afield value corresponding to the identity of the particular host,source, or sourcetype identified using the extraction rule.

Once the events that satisfy the filter criteria are identified, thesystem, such as the indexer 206 can categorize the results based on thecategorization criteria. The categorization criteria can includecategories for grouping the results, such as any combination ofpartition, source, sourcetype, or host, or other categories or fields asdesired.

The indexer can use the categorization criteria to identifycategorization criteria-value pairs or categorization criteria values bywhich to categorize or group the results. The categorizationcriteria-value pairs can correspond to one or more field-value pairentries stored in a relevant inverted index, one or more index-valuepairs based on a directory in which the inverted index is located or anentry in the inverted index (or other means by which an inverted indexcan be associated with a partition), or other criteria-value pair thatidentifies a general category and a particular value for that category.The categorization criteria values can correspond to the value portionof the categorization criteria-value pair.

As mentioned, in some cases, the categorization criteria-value pairs cancorrespond to one or more field-value pair entries stored in therelevant inverted indexes. For example, the categorizationcriteria-value pairs can correspond to field-value pair entries of host,source, and sourcetype (or other field-value pair entry as desired). Forinstance, if there are ten different hosts, four different sources, andfive different sourcetypes for an inverted index, then the invertedindex can include ten host field-value pair entries, four sourcefield-value pair entries, and five sourcetype field-value pair entries.The indexer can use the nineteen distinct field-value pair entries ascategorization criteria-value pairs to group the results.

Specifically, the indexer can identify the location of the eventreferences associated with the events that satisfy the filter criteriawithin the field-value pairs, and group the event references based ontheir location. As such, the indexer can identify the particular fieldvalue associated with the event corresponding to the event reference.For example, if the categorization criteria include host and sourcetype,the host field-value pair entries and sourcetype field-value pairentries can be used as categorization criteria-value pairs to identifythe specific host and sourcetype associated with the events that satisfythe filter criteria.

In addition, as mentioned, categorization criteria-value pairs cancorrespond to data other than the field-value pair entries in therelevant inverted indexes. For example, if partition or index is used asa categorization criterion, the inverted indexes may not includepartition field-value pair entries. Rather, the indexer can identify thecategorization criteria-value pair associated with the partition basedon the directory in which an inverted index is located, information inthe inverted index, or other information that associates the invertedindex with the partition, etc. As such a variety of methods can be usedto identify the categorization criteria-value pairs from thecategorization criteria.

Accordingly based on the categorization criteria (and categorizationcriteria-value pairs), the indexer can generate groupings based on theevents that satisfy the filter criteria. As a non-limiting example, ifthe categorization criteria includes a partition and sourcetype, thenthe groupings can correspond to events that are associated with eachunique combination of partition and sourcetype. For instance, if thereare three different partitions and two different sourcetypes associatedwith the identified events, then the six different groups can be formed,each with a unique partition value-sourcetype value combination.Similarly, if the categorization criteria includes partition,sourcetype, and host and there are two different partitions, threesourcetypes, and five hosts associated with the identified events, thenthe indexer can generate up to thirty groups for the results thatsatisfy the filter criteria. Each group can be associated with a uniquecombination of categorization criteria-value pairs (e.g., uniquecombinations of partition value sourcetype value, and host value).

In addition, the indexer can count the number of events associated witheach group based on the number of events that meet the uniquecombination of categorization criteria for a particular group (or matchthe categorization criteria-value pairs for the particular group). Withcontinued reference to the example above, the indexer can count thenumber of events that meet the unique combination of partition,sourcetype, and host for a particular group.

Each indexer communicates the groupings to the search head. The searchhead can aggregate the groupings from the indexers and provide thegroupings for display. In some cases, the groups are displayed based onat least one of the host, source, sourcetype, or partition associatedwith the groupings. In some embodiments, the search head can furtherdisplay the groups based on display criteria, such as a display order ora sort order as described in greater detail above.

As a non-limiting example and with reference to FIG. 5B, consider arequest received by an indexer 206 that includes the following filtercriteria: keyword=error, partition=_main, time range=3/1/1716:22.00.000-16:28.00.000, sourcetype=sourcetypeC, host=hostB, and thefollowing categorization criteria: source.

Based on the above criteria, the indexer 206 identifies _main directory503 and can ignore _test directory 505 and any other partition-specificdirectories. The indexer determines that inverted partition 507B is arelevant partition based on its location within the _main directory 503and the time range associated with it. For sake of simplicity in thisexample, the indexer 206 determines that no other inverted indexes inthe _main directory 503, such as inverted index 507A satisfy the timerange criterion.

Having identified the relevant inverted index 507B, the indexer reviewsthe token entries 511 and the field-value pair entries 513 to identifyevent references, or events, that satisfy all of the filter criteria.

With respect to the token entries 511, the indexer can review the errortoken entry and identify event references 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, indicatingthat the term “error” is found in the corresponding events. Similarly,the indexer can identify event references 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 in thefield-value pair entry sourcetype::sourcetypeC and event references 2,5, 6, 8, 10, 11 in the field-value pair entry host::hostB. As the filtercriteria did not include a source or an IP_address field-value pair, theindexer can ignore those field-value pair entries.

In addition to identifying event references found in at least one tokenentry or field-value pair entry (e.g., event references 3, 4, 5, 6, 8,9, 10, 11, 12), the indexer can identify events (and corresponding eventreferences) that satisfy the time range criterion using the eventreference array 1614 (e.g., event references 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10). Using the information obtained from the inverted index 507B(including the event reference array 515), the indexer 206 can identifythe event references that satisfy all of the filter criteria (e.g.,event references 5, 6, 8).

Having identified the events (and event references) that satisfy all ofthe filter criteria, the indexer 206 can group the event referencesusing the received categorization criteria (source). In doing so, theindexer can determine that event references 5 and 6 are located in thefield-value pair entry source::sourceD (or have matching categorizationcriteria-value pairs) and event reference 8 is located in thefield-value pair entry source::sourceC. Accordingly, the indexer cangenerate a sourceC group having a count of one corresponding toreference 8 and a sourceD group having a count of two corresponding toreferences 5 and 6. This information can be communicated to the searchhead. In turn the search head can aggregate the results from the variousindexers and display the groupings. As mentioned above, in someembodiments, the groupings can be displayed based at least in part onthe categorization criteria, including at least one of host, source,sourcetype, or partition.

It will be understood that a change to any of the filter criteria orcategorization criteria can result in different groupings. As a onenon-limiting example, a request received by an indexer 206 that includesthe following filter criteria: partition=_main, time range=3/1/17 3/1/1716:21:20.000-16:28:17.000, and the following categorization criteria:host, source, sourcetype would result in the indexer identifying eventreferences 1-12 as satisfying the filter criteria. The indexer wouldthen generate up to 24 groupings corresponding to the 24 differentcombinations of the categorization criteria-value pairs, including host(hostA, hostB), source (sourceA, sourceB, sourceC, sourceD), andsourcetype (sourcetypeA, sourcetypeB, sourcetypeC). However, as thereare only twelve events identifiers in the illustrated embodiment andsome fall into the same grouping, the indexer generates eight groups andcounts as follows:

Group 1 (hostA, sourceA, sourcetypeA): 1 (event reference 7)

Group 2 (hostA, sourceA, sourcetypeB): 2 (event references 1, 12)

Group 3 (hostA, sourceA, sourcetypeC): 1 (event reference 4)

Group 4 (hostA, sourceB, sourcetypeA): 1 (event reference 3)

Group 5 (hostA, sourceB, sourcetypeC): 1 (event reference 9)

Group 6 (hostB, sourceC, sourcetypeA): 1 (event reference 2)

Group 7 (hostB, sourceC, sourcetypeC): 2 (event references 8, 11)

Group 8 (hostB, sourceD, sourcetypeC): 3 (event references 5, 6, 10)

As noted, each group has a unique combination of categorizationcriteria-value pairs or categorization criteria values. The indexercommunicates the groups to the search head for aggregation with resultsreceived from other indexers. In communicating the groups to the searchhead, the indexer can include the categorization criteria-value pairsfor each group and the count. In some embodiments, the indexer caninclude more or less information. For example, the indexer can includethe event references associated with each group and other identifyinginformation, such as the indexer or inverted index used to identify thegroups.

As another non-limiting examples, a request received by an indexer 206that includes the following filter criteria: partition=_main, timerange=3/1/17 3/1/17 16:21:20.000-16:28:17.000, source=sourceA, sourceD,and keyword=itemID and the following categorization criteria: host,source, sourcetype would result in the indexer identifying eventreferences 4, 7, and 10 as satisfying the filter criteria, and generatethe following groups:

Group 1 (hostA, sourceA, sourcetypeC): 1 (event reference 4)

Group 2 (hostA, sourceA, sourcetypeA): 1 (event reference 7)

Group 3 (hostB, sourceD, sourcetypeC): 1 (event references 10)

The indexer communicates the groups to the search head for aggregationwith results received from other indexers. As will be understand thereare myriad ways for filtering and categorizing the events and eventreferences. For example, the indexer can review multiple invertedindexes associated with an partition or review the inverted indexes ofmultiple partitions, and categorize the data using any one or anycombination of partition, host, source, sourcetype, or other category,as desired.

Further, if a user interacts with a particular group, the indexer canprovide additional information regarding the group. For example, theindexer can perform a targeted search or sampling of the events thatsatisfy the filter criteria and the categorization criteria for theselected group, also referred to as the filter criteria corresponding tothe group or filter criteria associated with the group.

In some cases, to provide the additional information, the indexer relieson the inverted index. For example, the indexer can identify the eventreferences associated with the events that satisfy the filter criteriaand the categorization criteria for the selected group and then use theevent reference array 515 to access some or all of the identifiedevents. In some cases, the categorization criteria values orcategorization criteria-value pairs associated with the group becomepart of the filter criteria for the review.

With reference to FIG. 5B for instance, suppose a group is displayedwith a count of six corresponding to event references 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11(i.e., event references 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 satisfy the filter criteriaand are associated with matching categorization criteria values orcategorization criteria-value pairs) and a user interacts with the group(e.g., selecting the group, clicking on the group, etc.). In response,the search head communicates with the indexer to provide additionalinformation regarding the group.

In some embodiments, the indexer identifies the event referencesassociated with the group using the filter criteria and thecategorization criteria for the group (e.g., categorization criteriavalues or categorization criteria-value pairs unique to the group).Together, the filter criteria and the categorization criteria for thegroup can be referred to as the filter criteria associated with thegroup. Using the filter criteria associated with the group, the indexeridentifies event references 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11.

Based on a sampling criteria, discussed in greater detail above, theindexer can determine that it will analyze a sample of the eventsassociated with the event references 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11. For example,the sample can include analyzing event data associated with the eventreferences 5, 8, 10. In some embodiments, the indexer can use the eventreference array 1616 to access the event data associated with the eventreferences 5, 8, 10. Once accessed, the indexer can compile the relevantinformation and provide it to the search head for aggregation withresults from other indexers. By identifying events and sampling eventdata using the inverted indexes, the indexer can reduce the amount ofactual data this is analyzed and the number of events that are accessedin order to generate the summary of the group and provide a response inless time.

2.8. Query Processing

FIG. 6A is a flow diagram of an example method that illustrates how asearch head and indexers perform a search query, in accordance withexample embodiments. At block 602, a search head receives a search queryfrom a client. At block 604, the search head analyzes the search queryto determine what portion(s) of the query can be delegated to indexersand what portions of the query can be executed locally by the searchhead. At block 606, the search head distributes the determined portionsof the query to the appropriate indexers. In some embodiments, a searchhead cluster may take the place of an independent search head where eachsearch head in the search head cluster coordinates with peer searchheads in the search head cluster to schedule jobs, replicate searchresults, update configurations, fulfill search requests, etc. In someembodiments, the search head (or each search head) communicates with amaster node (also known as a cluster master, not shown in FIG. 2 ) thatprovides the search head with a list of indexers to which the searchhead can distribute the determined portions of the query. The masternode maintains a list of active indexers and can also designate whichindexers may have responsibility for responding to queries over certainsets of events. A search head may communicate with the master nodebefore the search head distributes queries to indexers to discover theaddresses of active indexers.

At block 608, the indexers to which the query was distributed, searchdata stores associated with them for events that are responsive to thequery. To determine which events are responsive to the query, theindexer searches for events that match the criteria specified in thequery. These criteria can include matching keywords or specific valuesfor certain fields. The searching operations at block 608 may use thelate-binding schema to extract values for specified fields from eventsat the time the query is processed. In some embodiments, one or morerules for extracting field values may be specified as part of a sourcetype definition in a configuration file. The indexers may then eithersend the relevant events back to the search head, or use the events todetermine a partial result, and send the partial result back to thesearch head.

At block 610, the search head combines the partial results and/or eventsreceived from the indexers to produce a final result for the query. Insome examples, the results of the query are indicative of performance orsecurity of the IT environment and may help improve the performance ofcomponents in the IT environment. This final result may comprisedifferent types of data depending on what the query requested. Forexample, the results can include a listing of matching events returnedby the query, or some type of visualization of the data from thereturned events. In another example, the final result can include one ormore calculated values derived from the matching events.

The results generated by the system 108 can be returned to a clientusing different techniques. For example, one technique streams resultsor relevant events back to a client in real-time as they are identified.Another technique waits to report the results to the client until acomplete set of results (which may include a set of relevant events or aresult based on relevant events) is ready to return to the client. Yetanother technique streams interim results or relevant events back to theclient in real-time until a complete set of results is ready, and thenreturns the complete set of results to the client. In another technique,certain results are stored as “search jobs” and the client may retrievethe results by referring the search jobs.

The search head can also perform various operations to make the searchmore efficient. For example, before the search head begins execution ofa query, the search head can determine a time range for the query and aset of common keywords that all matching events include. The search headmay then use these parameters to query the indexers to obtain a supersetof the eventual results. Then, during a filtering stage, the search headcan perform field-extraction operations on the superset to produce areduced set of search results. This speeds up queries, which may beparticularly helpful for queries that are performed on a periodic basis.

2.9. Pipelined Search Language

Various embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented using,or in conjunction with, a pipelined command language. A pipelinedcommand language is a language in which a set of inputs or data isoperated on by a first command in a sequence of commands, and thensubsequent commands in the order they are arranged in the sequence. Suchcommands can include any type of functionality for operating on data,such as retrieving, searching, filtering, aggregating, processing,transmitting, and the like. As described herein, a query can thus beformulated in a pipelined command language and include any number ofordered or unordered commands for operating on data.

Splunk Processing Language (SPL) is an example of a pipelined commandlanguage in which a set of inputs or data is operated on by any numberof commands in a particular sequence. A sequence of commands, or commandsequence, can be formulated such that the order in which the commandsare arranged defines the order in which the commands are applied to aset of data or the results of an earlier executed command. For example,a first command in a command sequence can operate to search or filterfor specific data in particular set of data. The results of the firstcommand can then be passed to another command listed later in thecommand sequence for further processing.

In various embodiments, a query can be formulated as a command sequencedefined in a command line of a search UI. In some embodiments, a querycan be formulated as a sequence of SPL commands. Some or all of the SPLcommands in the sequence of SPL commands can be separated from oneanother by a pipe symbol “I”. In such embodiments, a set of data, suchas a set of events, can be operated on by a first SPL command in thesequence, and then a subsequent SPL command following a pipe symbol “I”after the first SPL command operates on the results produced by thefirst SPL command or other set of data, and so on for any additional SPLcommands in the sequence. As such, a query formulated using SPLcomprises a series of consecutive commands that are delimited by pipe“I” characters. The pipe character indicates to the system that theoutput or result of one command (to the left of the pipe) should be usedas the input for one of the subsequent commands (to the right of thepipe). This enables formulation of queries defined by a pipeline ofsequenced commands that refines or enhances the data at each step alongthe pipeline until the desired results are attained. Accordingly,various embodiments described herein can be implemented with SplunkProcessing Language (SPL) used in conjunction with the SPLUNK®ENTERPRISE system.

While a query can be formulated in many ways, a query can start with asearch command and one or more corresponding search terms at thebeginning of the pipeline. Such search terms can include any combinationof keywords, phrases, times, dates, Boolean expressions, fieldname-fieldvalue pairs, etc. that specify which results should be obtained from anindex. The results can then be passed as inputs into subsequent commandsin a sequence of commands by using, for example, a pipe character. Thesubsequent commands in a sequence can include directives for additionalprocessing of the results once it has been obtained from one or moreindexes. For example, commands may be used to filter unwantedinformation out of the results, extract more information, evaluate fieldvalues, calculate statistics, reorder the results, create an alert,create summary of the results, or perform some type of aggregationfunction. In some embodiments, the summary can include a graph, chart,metric, or other visualization of the data. An aggregation function caninclude analysis or calculations to return an aggregate value, such asan average value, a sum, a maximum value, a root mean square,statistical values, and the like.

Due to its flexible nature, use of a pipelined command language invarious embodiments is advantageous because it can perform “filtering”as well as “processing” functions. In other words, a single query caninclude a search command and search term expressions, as well asdata-analysis expressions. For example, a command at the beginning of aquery can perform a “filtering” step by retrieving a set of data basedon a condition (e.g., records associated with server response times ofless than 1 microsecond). The results of the filtering step can then bepassed to a subsequent command in the pipeline that performs a“processing” step (e.g. calculation of an aggregate value related to thefiltered events such as the average response time of servers withresponse times of less than 1 microsecond). Furthermore, the searchcommand can allow events to be filtered by keyword as well as fieldvalue criteria. For example, a search command can filter out all eventscontaining the word “warning” or filter out all events where a fieldvalue associated with a field “clientip” is “10.0.1.2.”

The results obtained or generated in response to a command in a querycan be considered a set of results data. The set of results data can bepassed from one command to another in any data format. In oneembodiment, the set of result data can be in the form of a dynamicallycreated table. Each command in a particular query can redefine the shapeof the table. In some implementations, an event retrieved from an indexin response to a query can be considered a row with a column for eachfield value. Columns contain basic information about the data and alsomay contain data that has been dynamically extracted at search time.

FIG. 6B provides a visual representation of the manner in which apipelined command language or query operates in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments. The query 630 can be inputted by the user into asearch. The query comprises a search, the results of which are piped totwo commands (namely, command 1 and command 2) that follow the searchstep.

Disk 622 represents the event data in the raw record data store.

When a user query is processed, a search step will precede other queriesin the pipeline in order to generate a set of events at block 640. Forexample, the query can comprise search terms “sourcetype=syslog ERROR”at the front of the pipeline as shown in FIG. 6B. Intermediate resultstable 624 shows fewer rows because it represents the subset of eventsretrieved from the index that matched the search terms“sourcetype=syslog ERROR” from search command 630. By way of furtherexample, instead of a search step, the set of events at the head of thepipeline may be generating by a call to a pre-existing inverted index(as will be explained later).

At block 642, the set of events generated in the first part of the querymay be piped to a query that searches the set of events for field-valuepairs or for keywords. For example, the second intermediate resultstable 626 shows fewer columns, representing the result of the topcommand, “top user” which summarizes the events into a list of the top10 users and displays the user, count, and percentage.

Finally, at block 644, the results of the prior stage can be pipelinedto another stage where further filtering or processing of the data canbe performed, e.g., preparing the data for display purposes, filteringthe data based on a condition, performing a mathematical calculationwith the data, etc. As shown in FIG. 6B, the “fields—percent” part ofcommand 630 removes the column that shows the percentage, thereby,leaving a final results table 628 without a percentage column. Indifferent embodiments, other query languages, such as the StructuredQuery Language (“SQL”), can be used to create a query.

2.10. Field Extraction

The search head 210 allows users to search and visualize eventsgenerated from machine data received from homogenous data sources. Thesearch head 210 also allows users to search and visualize eventsgenerated from machine data received from heterogeneous data sources.The search head 210 includes various mechanisms, which may additionallyreside in an indexer 206, for processing a query. A query language maybe used to create a query, such as any suitable pipelined querylanguage. For example, Splunk Processing Language (SPL) can be utilizedto make a query. SPL is a pipelined search language in which a set ofinputs is operated on by a first command in a command line, and then asubsequent command following the pipe symbol “I” operates on the resultsproduced by the first command, and so on for additional commands. Otherquery languages, such as the Structured Query Language (“SQL”), can beused to create a query.

In response to receiving the search query, search head 210 usesextraction rules to extract values for fields in the events beingsearched. The search head 210 obtains extraction rules that specify howto extract a value for fields from an event. Extraction rules cancomprise regex rules that specify how to extract values for the fieldscorresponding to the extraction rules. In addition to specifying how toextract field values, the extraction rules may also include instructionsfor deriving a field value by performing a function on a characterstring or value retrieved by the extraction rule. For example, anextraction rule may truncate a character string or convert the characterstring into a different data format. In some cases, the query itself canspecify one or more extraction rules.

The search head 210 can apply the extraction rules to events that itreceives from indexers 206. Indexers 206 may apply the extraction rulesto events in an associated data store 208. Extraction rules can beapplied to all the events in a data store or to a subset of the eventsthat have been filtered based on some criteria (e.g., event time stampvalues, etc.). Extraction rules can be used to extract one or morevalues for a field from events by parsing the portions of machine datain the events and examining the data for one or more patterns ofcharacters, numbers, delimiters, etc., that indicate where the fieldbegins and, optionally, ends.

FIG. 7A is a diagram of an example scenario where a common customeridentifier is found among log data received from three disparate datasources, in accordance with example embodiments. In this example, a usersubmits an order for merchandise using a vendor's shopping applicationprogram 701 running on the user's system. In this example, the order wasnot delivered to the vendor's server due to a resource exception at thedestination server that is detected by the middleware code 702. The userthen sends a message to the customer support server 703 to complainabout the order failing to complete. The three systems 701, 702, and 703are disparate systems that do not have a common logging format. Theorder application 701 sends log data 704 to the data intake and querysystem in one format, the middleware code 702 sends error log data 705in a second format, and the support server 703 sends log data 706 in athird format.

Using the log data received at one or more indexers 206 from the threesystems, the vendor can uniquely obtain an insight into user activity,user experience, and system behavior. The search head 210 allows thevendor's administrator to search the log data from the three systemsthat one or more indexers 206 are responsible for searching, therebyobtaining correlated information, such as the order number andcorresponding customer ID number of the person placing the order. Thesystem also allows the administrator to see a visualization of relatedevents via a user interface. The administrator can query the search head210 for customer ID field value matches across the log data from thethree systems that are stored at the one or more indexers 206. Thecustomer ID field value exists in the data gathered from the threesystems, but the customer ID field value may be located in differentareas of the data given differences in the architecture of the systems.There is a semantic relationship between the customer ID field valuesgenerated by the three systems. The search head 210 requests events fromthe one or more indexers 206 to gather relevant events from the threesystems. The search head 210 then applies extraction rules to the eventsin order to extract field values that it can correlate. The search headmay apply a different extraction rule to each set of events from eachsystem when the event format differs among systems. In this example, theuser interface can display to the administrator the events correspondingto the common customer ID field values 707, 708, and 709, therebyproviding the administrator with insight into a customer's experience.

Note that query results can be returned to a client, a search head, orany other system component for further processing. In general, queryresults may include a set of one or more events, a set of one or morevalues obtained from the events, a subset of the values, statisticscalculated based on the values, a report containing the values, avisualization (e.g., a graph or chart) generated from the values, andthe like.

The search system enables users to run queries against the stored datato retrieve events that meet criteria specified in a query, such ascontaining certain keywords or having specific values in defined fields.FIG. 7B illustrates the manner in which keyword searches and fieldsearches are processed in accordance with disclosed embodiments.

If a user inputs a search query into search bar 1401 that includes onlykeywords (also known as “tokens”), e.g., the keyword “error” or“warning”, the query search engine of the data intake and query systemsearches for those keywords directly in the event data 722 stored in theraw record data store. Note that while FIG. 7B only illustrates fourevents, the raw record data store (corresponding to data store 208 inFIG. 2 ) may contain records for millions of events.

As disclosed above, an indexer can optionally generate a keyword indexto facilitate fast keyword searching for event data. The indexerincludes the identified keywords in an index, which associates eachstored keyword with reference pointers to events containing that keyword(or to locations within events where that keyword is located, otherlocation identifiers, etc.). When an indexer subsequently receives akeyword-based query, the indexer can access the keyword index to quicklyidentify events containing the keyword. For example, if the keyword“HTTP” was indexed by the indexer at index time, and the user searchesfor the keyword “HTTP”, events 713 to 715 will be identified based onthe results returned from the keyword index. As noted above, the indexcontains reference pointers to the events containing the keyword, whichallows for efficient retrieval of the relevant events from the rawrecord data store.

If a user searches for a keyword that has not been indexed by theindexer, the data intake and query system would nevertheless be able toretrieve the events by searching the event data for the keyword in theraw record data store directly as shown in FIG. 7B. For example, if auser searches for the keyword “frank”, and the name “frank” has not beenindexed at index time, the DATA INTAKE AND QUERY system will search theevent data directly and return the first event 713. Note that whetherthe keyword has been indexed at index time or not, in both cases the rawdata with the events 712 is accessed from the raw data record store toservice the keyword search. In the case where the keyword has beenindexed, the index will contain a reference pointer that will allow fora more efficient retrieval of the event data from the data store. If thekeyword has not been indexed, the search engine will need to searchthrough all the records in the data store to service the search.

In most cases, however, in addition to keywords, a user's search willalso include fields. The term “field” refers to a location in the eventdata containing one or more values for a specific data item. Often, afield is a value with a fixed, delimited position on a line, or a nameand value pair, where there is a single value to each field name. Afield can also be multivalued, that is, it can appear more than once inan event and have a different value for each appearance, e.g., emailaddress fields. Fields are searchable by the field name or fieldname-value pairs. Some examples of fields are “clientip” for IPaddresses accessing a web server, or the “From” and “To” fields in emailaddresses.

By way of further example, consider the search, “status=404”. Thissearch query finds events with “status” fields that have a value of“404.” When the search is run, the search engine does not look forevents with any other “status” value. It also does not look for eventscontaining other fields that share “404” as a value. As a result, thesearch returns a set of results that are more focused than if “404” hadbeen used in the search string as part of a keyword search. Note alsothat fields can appear in events as “key=value” pairs such as“user_name=Bob.” But in most cases, field values appear in fixed,delimited positions without identifying keys. For example, the datastore may contain events where the “user_name” value always appears byitself after the timestamp as illustrated by the following string: “Nov.15 09:33:22 johnmedlock.”

The data intake and query system advantageously allows for search timefield extraction. In other words, fields can be extracted from the eventdata at search time using late-binding schema as opposed to at dataingestion time, which was a major limitation of the prior art systems.

In response to receiving the search query, search head 210 usesextraction rules to extract values for the fields associated with afield or fields in the event data being searched. The search head 210obtains extraction rules that specify how to extract a value for certainfields from an event. Extraction rules can comprise regex rules thatspecify how to extract values for the relevant fields. In addition tospecifying how to extract field values, the extraction rules may alsoinclude instructions for deriving a field value by performing a functionon a character string or value retrieved by the extraction rule. Forexample, a transformation rule may truncate a character string, orconvert the character string into a different data format. In somecases, the query itself can specify one or more extraction rules.

FIG. 7B illustrates the manner in which configuration files may be usedto configure custom fields at search time in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments. In response to receiving a search query, the dataintake and query system determines if the query references a “field.”For example, a query may request a list of events where the “clientip”field equals “127.0.0.1.” If the query itself does not specify anextraction rule and if the field is not a metadata field, e.g., time,host, source, source type, etc., then in order to determine anextraction rule, the search engine may, in one or more embodiments, needto locate configuration file 712 during the execution of the search asshown in FIG. 7B.

Configuration file 712 may contain extraction rules for all the variousfields that are not metadata fields, e.g., the “clientip” field. Theextraction rules may be inserted into the configuration file in avariety of ways. In some embodiments, the extraction rules can compriseregular expression rules that are manually entered in by the user.Regular expressions match patterns of characters in text and are usedfor extracting custom fields in text.

In one or more embodiments, as noted above, a field extractor may beconfigured to automatically generate extraction rules for certain fieldvalues in the events when the events are being created, indexed, orstored, or possibly at a later time. In one embodiment, a user may beable to dynamically create custom fields by highlighting portions of asample event that should be extracted as fields using a graphical userinterface. The system would then generate a regular expression thatextracts those fields from similar events and store the regularexpression as an extraction rule for the associated field in theconfiguration file 712.

In some embodiments, the indexers may automatically discover certaincustom fields at index time and the regular expressions for those fieldswill be automatically generated at index time and stored as part ofextraction rules in configuration file 712. For example, fields thatappear in the event data as “key=value” pairs may be automaticallyextracted as part of an automatic field discovery process. Note thatthere may be several other ways of adding field definitions toconfiguration files in addition to the methods discussed herein.

The search head 210 can apply the extraction rules derived fromconfiguration file 1402 to event data that it receives from indexers206. Indexers 206 may apply the extraction rules from the configurationfile to events in an associated data store 208. Extraction rules can beapplied to all the events in a data store, or to a subset of the eventsthat have been filtered based on some criteria (e.g., event time stampvalues, etc.). Extraction rules can be used to extract one or morevalues for a field from events by parsing the event data and examiningthe event data for one or more patterns of characters, numbers,delimiters, etc., that indicate where the field begins and, optionally,ends.

In one more embodiments, the extraction rule in configuration file 712will also need to define the type or set of events that the rule appliesto. Because the raw record data store will contain events from multipleheterogeneous sources, multiple events may contain the same fields indifferent locations because of discrepancies in the format of the datagenerated by the various sources. Furthermore, certain events may notcontain a particular field at all. For example, event 719 also contains“clientip” field, however, the “clientip” field is in a different formatfrom events 713-715. To address the discrepancies in the format andcontent of the different types of events, the configuration file willalso need to specify the set of events that an extraction rule appliesto, e.g., extraction rule 716 specifies a rule for filtering by the typeof event and contains a regular expression for parsing out the fieldvalue. Accordingly, each extraction rule will pertain to only aparticular type of event. If a particular field, e.g., “clientip” occursin multiple events, each of those types of events would need its owncorresponding extraction rule in the configuration file 712 and each ofthe extraction rules would comprise a different regular expression toparse out the associated field value. The most common way to categorizeevents is by source type because events generated by a particular sourcecan have the same format.

The field extraction rules stored in configuration file 712 performsearch-time field extractions. For example, for a query that requests alist of events with source type “access_combined” where the “clientip”field equals “127.0.0.1,” the query search engine would first locate theconfiguration file 712 to retrieve extraction rule 716 that would allowit to extract values associated with the “clientip” field from the eventdata 720 “where the source type is “access_combined. After the“clientip” field has been extracted from all the events comprising the“clientip” field where the source type is “access_combined,” the querysearch engine can then execute the field criteria by performing thecompare operation to filter out the events where the “clientip” fieldequals “127.0.0.1.” In the example shown in FIG. 7B, events 713-715would be returned in response to the user query. In this manner, thesearch engine can service queries containing field criteria in additionto queries containing keyword criteria (as explained above).

The configuration file can be created during indexing. It may either bemanually created by the user or automatically generated with certainpredetermined field extraction rules. As discussed above, the events maybe distributed across several indexers, wherein each indexer may beresponsible for storing and searching a subset of the events containedin a corresponding data store. In a distributed indexer system, eachindexer would need to maintain a local copy of the configuration filethat is synchronized periodically across the various indexers.

The ability to add schema to the configuration file at search timeresults in increased efficiency. A user can create new fields at searchtime and simply add field definitions to the configuration file. As auser learns more about the data in the events, the user can continue torefine the late-binding schema by adding new fields, deleting fields, ormodifying the field extraction rules in the configuration file for usethe next time the schema is used by the system. Because the data intakeand query system maintains the underlying raw data and uses late-bindingschema for searching the raw data, it enables a user to continueinvestigating and learn valuable insights about the raw data long afterdata ingestion time.

The ability to add multiple field definitions to the configuration fileat search time also results in increased flexibility. For example,multiple field definitions can be added to the configuration file tocapture the same field across events generated by different sourcetypes. This allows the data intake and query system to search andcorrelate data across heterogeneous sources flexibly and efficiently.

Further, by providing the field definitions for the queried fields atsearch time, the configuration file 712 allows the record data store 712to be field searchable. In other words, the raw record data store 712can be searched using keywords as well as fields, wherein the fields aresearchable name/value pairings that distinguish one event from anotherand can be defined in configuration file 1402 using extraction rules. Incomparison to a search containing field names, a keyword search does notneed the configuration file and can search the event data directly asshown in FIG. 7B.

It should also be noted that any events filtered out by performing asearch-time field extraction using a configuration file can be furtherprocessed by directing the results of the filtering step to a processingstep using a pipelined search language. Using the prior example, a usercould pipeline the results of the compare step to an aggregate functionby asking the query search engine to count the number of events wherethe “clientip” field equals “127.0.0.1.”

2.11. EXAMPLE SEARCH SCREEN

FIG. 8A is an interface diagram of an example user interface for asearch screen 800, in accordance with example embodiments. Search screen800 includes a search bar 802 that accepts user input in the form of asearch string. It also includes a time range picker 812 that enables theuser to specify a time range for the search. For historical searches(e.g., searches based on a particular historical time range), the usercan select a specific time range, or alternatively a relative timerange, such as “today,” “yesterday” or “last week.” For real-timesearches (e.g., searches whose results are based on data received inreal-time), the user can select the size of a preceding time window tosearch for real-time events. Search screen 800 also initially displays a“data summary” dialog as is illustrated in FIG. 8B that enables the userto select different sources for the events, such as by selectingspecific hosts and log files.

After the search is executed, the search screen 800 in FIG. 8A candisplay the results through search results tabs 804, wherein searchresults tabs 804 includes: an “events tab” that displays variousinformation about events returned by the search; a “statistics tab” thatdisplays statistics about the search results; and a “visualization tab”that displays various visualizations of the search results. The eventstab illustrated in FIG. 8A displays a timeline graph 805 thatgraphically illustrates the number of events that occurred in one-hourintervals over the selected time range. The events tab also displays anevents list 808 that enables a user to view the machine data in each ofthe returned events.

The events tab additionally displays a sidebar that is an interactivefield picker 806. The field picker 806 may be displayed to a user inresponse to the search being executed and allows the user to furtheranalyze the search results based on the fields in the events of thesearch results. The field picker 806 includes field names that referencefields present in the events in the search results. The field picker maydisplay any Selected Fields 820 that a user has pre-selected for display(e.g., host, source, sourcetype) and may also display any InterestingFields 822 that the system determines may be interesting to the userbased on pre-specified criteria (e.g., action, bytes, categoryid,clientip, date_hour, date_mday, date_minute, etc.). The field pickeralso provides an option to display field names for all the fieldspresent in the events of the search results using the All Fields control824.

Each field name in the field picker 806 has a value type identifier tothe left of the field name, such as value type identifier 826. A valuetype identifier identifies the type of value for the respective field,such as an “a” for fields that include literal values or a “#” forfields that include numerical values.

Each field name in the field picker also has a unique value count to theright of the field name, such as unique value count 828. The uniquevalue count indicates the number of unique values for the respectivefield in the events of the search results.

Each field name is selectable to view the events in the search resultsthat have the field referenced by that field name. For example, a usercan select the “host” field name, and the events shown in the eventslist 808 will be updated with events in the search results that have thefield that is reference by the field name “host.”

2.12. Data Models

A data model is a hierarchically structured search-time mapping ofsemantic knowledge about one or more datasets. It encodes the domainknowledge used to build a variety of specialized searches of thosedatasets. Those searches, in turn, can be used to generate reports.

A data model is composed of one or more “objects” (or “data modelobjects”) that define or otherwise correspond to a specific set of data.An object is defined by constraints and attributes. An object'scontraints are search criteria that define the set of events to beoperated on by running a search having that search criteria at the timethe data model is selected. An object's attributes are the set of fieldsto be exposed for operating on that set of events generated by thesearch criteria.

Objects in data models can be arranged hierarchically in parent/childrelationships. Each child object represents a subset of the datasetcovered by its parent object. The top-level objects in data models arecollectively referred to as “root objects.”

Child objects have inheritance. Child objects inherit constraints andattributes from their parent objects and may have additional constraintsand attributes of their own. Child objects provide a way of filteringevents from parent objects. Because a child object may provide anadditional constraint in addition to the constraints it has inheritedfrom its parent object, the dataset it represents may be a subset of thedataset that its parent represents. For example, a first data modelobject may define a broad set of data pertaining to e-mail activitygenerally, and another data model object may define specific datasetswithin the broad dataset, such as a subset of the e-mail data pertainingspecifically to e-mails sent. For example, a user can simply select an“e-mail activity” data model object to access a dataset relating toe-mails generally (e.g., sent or received), or select an “e-mails sent”data model object (or data sub-model object) to access a datasetrelating to e-mails sent.

Because a data model object is defined by its constraints (e.g., a setof search criteria) and attributes (e.g., a set of fields), a data modelobject can be used to quickly search data to identify a set of eventsand to identify a set of fields to be associated with the set of events.For example, an “e-mails sent” data model object may specify a searchfor events relating to e-mails that have been sent, and specify a set offields that are associated with the events. Thus, a user can retrieveand use the “e-mails sent” data model object to quickly search sourcedata for events relating to sent e-mails, and may be provided with alisting of the set of fields relevant to the events in a user interfacescreen.

Examples of data models can include electronic mail, authentication,databases, intrusion detection, malware, application state, alerts,compute inventory, network sessions, network traffic, performance,audits, updates, vulnerabilities, etc. Data models and their objects canbe designed by knowledge managers in an organization, and they canenable downstream users to quickly focus on a specific set of data. Auser iteratively applies a model development tool (not shown in FIG. 8A)to prepare a query that defines a subset of events and assigns an objectname to that subset. A child subset is created by further limiting aquery that generated a parent subset.

Data definitions in associated schemas can be taken from the commoninformation model (CIM) or can be devised for a particular schema andoptionally added to the CIM. Child objects inherit fields from parentsand can include fields not present in parents. A model developer canselect fewer extraction rules than are available for the sourcesreturned by the query that defines events belonging to a model.Selecting a limited set of extraction rules can be a tool forsimplifying and focusing the data model, while allowing a userflexibility to explore the data subset. Development of a data model isfurther explained in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,788,525 and 8,788,526, bothentitled “DATA MODEL FOR MACHINE DATA FOR SEMANTIC SEARCH”, both issuedon 22 Jul. 2014, U.S. Pat. No. 8,983,994, entitled “GENERATION OF A DATAMODEL FOR SEARCHING MACHINE DATA”, issued on 17 Mar. 2015, U.S. Pat. No.9,128,980, entitled “GENERATION OF A DATA MODEL APPLIED TO QUERIES”,issued on 8 Sep. 2015, and U.S. Pat. No. 9,589,012, entitled “GENERATIONOF A DATA MODEL APPLIED TO OBJECT QUERIES”, issued on 7 Mar. 2017, eachof which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for allpurposes.

A data model can also include reports. One or more report formats can beassociated with a particular data model and be made available to runagainst the data model. A user can use child objects to design reportswith object datasets that already have extraneous data pre-filtered out.In some embodiments, the data intake and query system 108 provides theuser with the ability to produce reports (e.g., a table, chart,visualization, etc.) without having to enter SPL, SQL, or other querylanguage terms into a search screen. Data models are used as the basisfor the search feature.

Data models may be selected in a report generation interface. The reportgenerator supports drag-and-drop organization of fields to be summarizedin a report. When a model is selected, the fields with availableextraction rules are made available for use in the report. The user mayrefine and/or filter search results to produce more precise reports. Theuser may select some fields for organizing the report and select otherfields for providing detail according to the report organization. Forexample, “region” and “salesperson” are fields used for organizing thereport and sales data can be summarized (subtotaled and totaled) withinthis organization. The report generator allows the user to specify oneor more fields within events and apply statistical analysis on valuesextracted from the specified one or more fields. The report generatormay aggregate search results across sets of events and generatestatistics based on aggregated search results. Building reports usingthe report generation interface is further explained in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/503,335, entitled “GENERATING REPORTS FROMUNSTRUCTURED DATA”, filed on 30 Sep. 2014, and which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Datavisualizations also can be generated in a variety of formats, byreference to the data model. Reports, data visualizations, and datamodel objects can be saved and associated with the data model for futureuse. The data model object may be used to perform searches of otherdata.

FIGS. 9-15 are interface diagrams of example report generation userinterfaces, in accordance with example embodiments. The reportgeneration process may be driven by a predefined data model object, suchas a data model object defined and/or saved via a reporting applicationor a data model object obtained from another source. A user can load asaved data model object using a report editor. For example, the initialsearch query and fields used to drive the report editor may be obtainedfrom a data model object. The data model object that is used to drive areport generation process may define a search and a set of fields. Uponloading of the data model object, the report generation process mayenable a user to use the fields (e.g., the fields defined by the datamodel object) to define criteria for a report (e.g., filters, splitrows/columns, aggregates, etc.) and the search may be used to identifyevents (e.g., to identify events responsive to the search) used togenerate the report. That is, for example, if a data model object isselected to drive a report editor, the graphical user interface of thereport editor may enable a user to define reporting criteria for thereport using the fields associated with the selected data model object,and the events used to generate the report may be constrained to theevents that match, or otherwise satisfy, the search constraints of theselected data model object.

The selection of a data model object for use in driving a reportgeneration may be facilitated by a data model object selectioninterface. FIG. 9 illustrates an example interactive data modelselection graphical user interface 900 of a report editor that displaysa listing of available data models 901. The user may select one of thedata models 902.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example data model object selection graphicaluser interface 1000 that displays available data objects 1001 for theselected data object model 902. The user may select one of the displayeddata model objects 1002 for use in driving the report generationprocess.

Once a data model object is selected by the user, a user interfacescreen 1100 shown in FIG. 11A may display an interactive listing ofautomatic field identification options 1101 based on the selected datamodel object. For example, a user may select one of the threeillustrated options (e.g., the “All Fields” option 1102, the “SelectedFields” option 1103, or the “Coverage” option (e.g., fields with atleast a specified % of coverage) 1104). If the user selects the “AllFields” option 1102, all of the fields identified from the events thatwere returned in response to an initial search query may be selected.That is, for example, all of the fields of the identified data modelobject fields may be selected. If the user selects the “Selected Fields”option 1103, only the fields from the fields of the identified datamodel object fields that are selected by the user may be used. If theuser selects the “Coverage” option 1104, only the fields of theidentified data model object fields meeting a specified coveragecriteria may be selected. A percent coverage may refer to the percentageof events returned by the initial search query that a given fieldappears in. Thus, for example, if an object dataset includes 10,000events returned in response to an initial search query, and the“avg_age” field appears in 854 of those 10,000 events, then the“avg_age” field would have a coverage of 8.54% for that object dataset.If, for example, the user selects the “Coverage” option and specifies acoverage value of 2%, only fields having a coverage value equal to orgreater than 2% may be selected. The number of fields corresponding toeach selectable option may be displayed in association with each option.For example, “97” displayed next to the “All Fields” option 1102indicates that 97 fields will be selected if the “All Fields” option isselected. The “3” displayed next to the “Selected Fields” option 1103indicates that 3 of the 97 fields will be selected if the “SelectedFields” option is selected. The “49” displayed next to the “Coverage”option 1104 indicates that 49 of the 97 fields (e.g., the 49 fieldshaving a coverage of 2% or greater) will be selected if the “Coverage”option is selected. The number of fields corresponding to the “Coverage”option may be dynamically updated based on the specified percent ofcoverage.

FIG. 11B illustrates an example graphical user interface screen 1105displaying the reporting application's “Report Editor” page. The screenmay display interactive elements for defining various elements of areport. For example, the page includes a “Filters” element 1106, a“Split Rows” element 1107, a “Split Columns” element 1108, and a “ColumnValues” element 1109. The page may include a list of search results1111. In this example, the Split Rows element 1107 is expanded,revealing a listing of fields 1110 that can be used to define additionalcriteria (e.g., reporting criteria). The listing of fields 1110 maycorrespond to the selected fields. That is, the listing of fields 1110may list only the fields previously selected, either automaticallyand/or manually by a user. FIG. 11C illustrates a formatting dialogue1112 that may be displayed upon selecting a field from the listing offields 1110. The dialogue can be used to format the display of theresults of the selection (e.g., label the column for the selected fieldto be displayed as “component”).

FIG. 11D illustrates an example graphical user interface screen 1105including a table of results 1113 based on the selected criteriaincluding splitting the rows by the “component” field. A column 1114having an associated count for each component listed in the table may bedisplayed that indicates an aggregate count of the number of times thatthe particular field-value pair (e.g., the value in a row for aparticular field, such as the value “BucketMover” for the field“component”) occurs in the set of events responsive to the initialsearch query.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example graphical user interface screen 1200 thatallows the user to filter search results and to perform statisticalanalysis on values extracted from specific fields in the set of events.In this example, the top ten product names ranked by price are selectedas a filter 1201 that causes the display of the ten most popularproducts sorted by price. Each row is displayed by product name andprice 1202. This results in each product displayed in a column labeled“product name” along with an associated price in a column labeled“price” 1206. Statistical analysis of other fields in the eventsassociated with the ten most popular products have been specified ascolumn values 1203. A count of the number of successful purchases foreach product is displayed in column 1204. These statistics may beproduced by filtering the search results by the product name, findingall occurrences of a successful purchase in a field within the eventsand generating a total of the number of occurrences. A sum of the totalsales is displayed in column 1205, which is a result of themultiplication of the price and the number of successful purchases foreach product.

The reporting application allows the user to create graphicalvisualizations of the statistics generated for a report. For example,FIG. 13 illustrates an example graphical user interface 1300 thatdisplays a set of components and associated statistics 1301. Thereporting application allows the user to select a visualization of thestatistics in a graph (e.g., bar chart, scatter plot, area chart, linechart, pie chart, radial gauge, marker gauge, filler gauge, etc.), wherethe format of the graph may be selected using the user interfacecontrols 1302 along the left panel of the user interface 1300. FIG. 14illustrates an example of a bar chart visualization 1400 of an aspect ofthe statistical data 1301. FIG. 15 illustrates a scatter plotvisualization 1500 of an aspect of the statistical data 1301.

2.13. Acceleration Technique

The above-described system provides significant flexibility by enablinga user to analyze massive quantities of minimally-processed data “on thefly” at search time using a late-binding schema, instead of storingpre-specified portions of the data in a database at ingestion time. Thisflexibility enables a user to see valuable insights, correlate data, andperform subsequent queries to examine interesting aspects of the datathat may not have been apparent at ingestion time.

However, performing extraction and analysis operations at search timecan involve a large amount of data and require a large number ofcomputational operations, which can cause delays in processing thequeries. Advantageously, the data intake and query system also employs anumber of unique acceleration techniques that have been developed tospeed up analysis operations performed at search time. These techniquesinclude: (1) performing search operations in parallel across multipleindexers; (2) using a keyword index; (3) using a high performanceanalytics store; and (4) accelerating the process of generating reports.These novel techniques are described in more detail below.

2.13.1. Aggregation Technique

To facilitate faster query processing, a query can be structured suchthat multiple indexers perform the query in parallel, while aggregationof search results from the multiple indexers is performed locally at thesearch head. For example, FIG. 16 is an example search query receivedfrom a client and executed by search peers, in accordance with exampleembodiments. FIG. 16 illustrates how a search query 1602 received from aclient at a search head 210 can split into two phases, including: (1)subtasks 1604 (e.g., data retrieval or simple filtering) that may beperformed in parallel by indexers 206 for execution, and (2) a searchresults aggregation operation 1606 to be executed by the search headwhen the results are ultimately collected from the indexers.

During operation, upon receiving search query 1602, a search head 210determines that a portion of the operations involved with the searchquery may be performed locally by the search head. The search headmodifies search query 1602 by substituting “stats” (create aggregatestatistics over results sets received from the indexers at the searchhead) with “prestats” (create statistics by the indexer from localresults set) to produce search query 1604, and then distributes searchquery 1604 to distributed indexers, which are also referred to as“search peers” or “peer indexers.” Note that search queries maygenerally specify search criteria or operations to be performed onevents that meet the search criteria. Search queries may also specifyfield names, as well as search criteria for the values in the fields oroperations to be performed on the values in the fields. Moreover, thesearch head may distribute the full search query to the search peers asillustrated in FIG. 6A, or may alternatively distribute a modifiedversion (e.g., a more restricted version) of the search query to thesearch peers. In this example, the indexers are responsible forproducing the results and sending them to the search head. After theindexers return the results to the search head, the search headaggregates the received results 1606 to form a single search result set.By executing the query in this manner, the system effectivelydistributes the computational operations across the indexers whileminimizing data transfers.

2.13.2. Keyword Index

As described above with reference to the flow charts in FIG. 5A and FIG.6A, data intake and query system 108 can construct and maintain one ormore keyword indices to quickly identify events containing specifickeywords. This technique can greatly speed up the processing of queriesinvolving specific keywords. As mentioned above, to build a keywordindex, an indexer first identifies a set of keywords. Then, the indexerincludes the identified keywords in an index, which associates eachstored keyword with references to events containing that keyword, or tolocations within events where that keyword is located. When an indexersubsequently receives a keyword-based query, the indexer can access thekeyword index to quickly identify events containing the keyword.

2.13.3. High Performance Analytics Store

To speed up certain types of queries, some embodiments of system 108create a high performance analytics store, which is referred to as a“summarization table,” that contains entries for specific field-valuepairs. Each of these entries keeps track of instances of a specificvalue in a specific field in the events and includes references toevents containing the specific value in the specific field. For example,an example entry in a summarization table can keep track of occurrencesof the value “94107” in a “ZIP code” field of a set of events and theentry includes references to all of the events that contain the value“94107” in the ZIP code field. This optimization technique enables thesystem to quickly process queries that seek to determine how many eventshave a particular value for a particular field. To this end, the systemcan examine the entry in the summarization table to count instances ofthe specific value in the field without having to go through theindividual events or perform data extractions at search time. Also, ifthe system needs to process all events that have a specific field-valuecombination, the system can use the references in the summarizationtable entry to directly access the events to extract further informationwithout having to search all of the events to find the specificfield-value combination at search time.

In some embodiments, the system maintains a separate summarization tablefor each of the above-described time-specific buckets that stores eventsfor a specific time range. A bucket-specific summarization tableincludes entries for specific field-value combinations that occur inevents in the specific bucket. Alternatively, the system can maintain aseparate summarization table for each indexer. The indexer-specificsummarization table includes entries for the events in a data store thatare managed by the specific indexer. Indexer-specific summarizationtables may also be bucket-specific.

The summarization table can be populated by running a periodic querythat scans a set of events to find instances of a specific field-valuecombination, or alternatively instances of all field-value combinationsfor a specific field. A periodic query can be initiated by a user, orcan be scheduled to occur automatically at specific time intervals. Aperiodic query can also be automatically launched in response to a querythat asks for a specific field-value combination.

In some cases, when the summarization tables may not cover all of theevents that are relevant to a query, the system can use thesummarization tables to obtain partial results for the events that arecovered by summarization tables, but may also have to search throughother events that are not covered by the summarization tables to produceadditional results. These additional results can then be combined withthe partial results to produce a final set of results for the query. Thesummarization table and associated techniques are described in moredetail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,682,925, entitled “DISTRIBUTED HIGHPERFORMANCE ANALYTICS STORE”, issued on 25 Mar. 2014, U.S. Pat. No.9,128,985, entitled “SUPPLEMENTING A HIGH PERFORMANCE ANALYTICS STOREWITH EVALUATION OF INDIVIDUAL EVENTS TO RESPOND TO AN EVENT QUERY”,issued on 8 Sep. 2015, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/815,973,entitled “GENERATING AND STORING SUMMARIZATION TABLES FOR SETS OFSEARCHABLE EVENTS”, filed on 1 Aug. 2015, each of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

To speed up certain types of queries, e.g., frequently encounteredqueries or computationally intensive queries, some embodiments of system108 create a high performance analytics store, which is referred to as a“summarization table,” (also referred to as a “lexicon” or “invertedindex”) that contains entries for specific field-value pairs. Each ofthese entries keeps track of instances of a specific value in a specificfield in the event data and includes references to events containing thespecific value in the specific field. For example, an example entry inan inverted index can keep track of occurrences of the value “94107” ina “ZIP code” field of a set of events and the entry includes referencesto all of the events that contain the value “94107” in the ZIP codefield. Creating the inverted index data structure avoids needing toincur the computational overhead each time a statistical query needs tobe run on a frequently encountered field-value pair. In order toexpedite queries, in most embodiments, the search engine will employ theinverted index separate from the raw record data store to generateresponses to the received queries.

Note that the term “summarization table” or “inverted index” as usedherein is a data structure that may be generated by an indexer thatincludes at least field names and field values that have been extractedand/or indexed from event records. An inverted index may also includereference values that point to the location(s) in the field searchabledata store where the event records that include the field may be found.Also, an inverted index may be stored using well-known compressiontechniques to reduce its storage size.

Further, note that the term “reference value” (also referred to as a“posting value”) as used herein is a value that references the locationof a source record in the field searchable data store. In someembodiments, the reference value may include additional informationabout each record, such as timestamps, record size, meta-data, or thelike. Each reference value may be a unique identifier which may be usedto access the event data directly in the field searchable data store. Insome embodiments, the reference values may be ordered based on eachevent record's timestamp. For example, if numbers are used asidentifiers, they may be sorted so event records having a latertimestamp always have a lower valued identifier than event records withan earlier timestamp, or vice-versa. Reference values are often includedin inverted indexes for retrieving and/or identifying event records.

In one or more embodiments, an inverted index is generated in responseto a user-initiated collection query. The term “collection query” asused herein refers to queries that include commands that generatesummarization information and inverted indexes (or summarization tables)from event records stored in the field searchable data store.

Note that a collection query is a special type of query that can beuser-generated and is used to create an inverted index. A collectionquery is not the same as a query that is used to call up or invoke apre-existing inverted index. In one or more embodiment, a query cancomprise an initial step that calls up a pre-generated inverted index onwhich further filtering and processing can be performed. For example,referring back to FIG. 13 , a set of events generated at block 1320 byeither using a “collection” query to create a new inverted index or bycalling up a pre-generated inverted index. A query with severalpipelined steps will start with a pre-generated index to accelerate thequery.

FIG. 7C illustrates the manner in which an inverted index is created andused in accordance with the disclosed embodiments. As shown in FIG. 7C,an inverted index 722 can be created in response to a user-initiatedcollection query using the event data 723 stored in the raw record datastore. For example, a non-limiting example of a collection query mayinclude “collect clientip=127.0.0.1” which may result in an invertedindex 722 being generated from the event data 723 as shown in FIG. 7C.Each entry in inverted index 722 includes an event reference value thatreferences the location of a source record in the field searchable datastore. The reference value may be used to access the original eventrecord directly from the field searchable data store.

In one or more embodiments, if one or more of the queries is acollection query, the responsive indexers may generate summarizationinformation based on the fields of the event records located in thefield searchable data store. In at least one of the various embodiments,one or more of the fields used in the summarization information may belisted in the collection query and/or they may be determined based onterms included in the collection query. For example, a collection querymay include an explicit list of fields to summarize. Or, in at least oneof the various embodiments, a collection query may include terms orexpressions that explicitly define the fields, e.g., using regex rules.In FIG. 7C, prior to running the collection query that generates theinverted index 722, the field name “clientip” may need to be defined ina configuration file by specifying the “access_combined” source type anda regular expression rule to parse out the client IP address.Alternatively, the collection query may contain an explicit definitionfor the field name “clientip” which may obviate the need to referencethe configuration file at search time.

In one or more embodiments, collection queries may be saved andscheduled to run periodically. These scheduled collection queries mayperiodically update the summarization information corresponding to thequery. For example, if the collection query that generates invertedindex 722 is scheduled to run periodically, one or more indexers wouldperiodically search through the relevant buckets to update invertedindex 722 with event data for any new events with the “clientip” valueof “127.0.0.1.”

In some embodiments, the inverted indexes that include fields, values,and reference value (e.g., inverted index 722) for event records may beincluded in the summarization information provided to the user. In otherembodiments, a user may not be interested in specific fields and valuescontained in the inverted index, but may need to perform a statisticalquery on the data in the inverted index. For example, referencing theexample of FIG. 7C rather than viewing the fields within summarizationtable 722, a user may want to generate a count of all client requestsfrom IP address “127.0.0.1.” In this case, the search engine wouldsimply return a result of “4” rather than including details about theinverted index 722 in the information provided to the user.

The pipelined search language, e.g., SPL of the SPLUNK® ENTERPRISEsystem can be used to pipe the contents of an inverted index to astatistical query using the “stats” command for example. A “stats” queryrefers to queries that generate result sets that may produce aggregateand statistical results from event records, e.g., average, mean, max,min, rms, etc. Where sufficient information is available in an invertedindex, a “stats” query may generate their result sets rapidly from thesummarization information available in the inverted index rather thandirectly scanning event records. For example, the contents of invertedindex 722 can be pipelined to a stats query, e.g., a “count” functionthat counts the number of entries in the inverted index and returns avalue of “4.” In this way, inverted indexes may enable various statsqueries to be performed absent scanning or search the event records.Accordingly, this optimization technique enables the system to quicklyprocess queries that seek to determine how many events have a particularvalue for a particular field. To this end, the system can examine theentry in the inverted index to count instances of the specific value inthe field without having to go through the individual events or performdata extractions at search time.

In some embodiments, the system maintains a separate inverted index foreach of the above-described time-specific buckets that stores events fora specific time range. A bucket-specific inverted index includes entriesfor specific field-value combinations that occur in events in thespecific bucket. Alternatively, the system can maintain a separateinverted index for each indexer. The indexer-specific inverted indexincludes entries for the events in a data store that are managed by thespecific indexer. Indexer-specific inverted indexes may also bebucket-specific. In at least one or more embodiments, if one or more ofthe queries is a stats query, each indexer may generate a partial resultset from previously generated summarization information. The partialresult sets may be returned to the search head that received the queryand combined into a single result set for the query

As mentioned above, the inverted index can be populated by running aperiodic query that scans a set of events to find instances of aspecific field-value combination, or alternatively instances of allfield-value combinations for a specific field. A periodic query can beinitiated by a user, or can be scheduled to occur automatically atspecific time intervals. A periodic query can also be automaticallylaunched in response to a query that asks for a specific field-valuecombination. In some embodiments, if summarization information is absentfrom an indexer that includes responsive event records, further actionsmay be taken, such as, the summarization information may generated onthe fly, warnings may be provided the user, the collection queryoperation may be halted, the absence of summarization information may beignored, or the like, or combination thereof.

In one or more embodiments, an inverted index may be set up to updatecontinually. For example, the query may ask for the inverted index toupdate its result periodically, e.g., every hour. In such instances, theinverted index may be a dynamic data structure that is regularly updatedto include information regarding incoming events.

In some cases, e.g., where a query is executed before an inverted indexupdates, when the inverted index may not cover all of the events thatare relevant to a query, the system can use the inverted index to obtainpartial results for the events that are covered by inverted index, butmay also have to search through other events that are not covered by theinverted index to produce additional results on the fly. In other words,an indexer would need to search through event data on the data store tosupplement the partial results. These additional results can then becombined with the partial results to produce a final set of results forthe query. Note that in typical instances where an inverted index is notcompletely up to date, the number of events that an indexer would needto search through to supplement the results from the inverted indexwould be relatively small. In other words, the search to get the mostrecent results can be quick and efficient because only a small number ofevent records will be searched through to supplement the informationfrom the inverted index. The inverted index and associated techniquesare described in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,682,925, entitled“DISTRIBUTED HIGH PERFORMANCE ANALYTICS STORE”, issued on 25 Mar. 2014,U.S. Pat. No. 9,128,985, entitled “SUPPLEMENTING A HIGH PERFORMANCEANALYTICS STORE WITH EVALUATION OF INDIVIDUAL EVENTS TO RESPOND TO ANEVENT QUERY”, filed on 31 Jan. 2014, and U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/815,973, entitled “STORAGE MEDIUM AND CONTROL DEVICE”, filed on21 Feb. 2014, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

2.13.3.1 Extracting Event Data Using Posting

In one or more embodiments, if the system needs to process all eventsthat have a specific field-value combination, the system can use thereferences in the inverted index entry to directly access the events toextract further information without having to search all of the eventsto find the specific field-value combination at search time. In otherwords, the system can use the reference values to locate the associatedevent data in the field searchable data store and extract furtherinformation from those events, e.g., extract further field values fromthe events for purposes of filtering or processing or both.

The information extracted from the event data using the reference valuescan be directed for further filtering or processing in a query using thepipeline search language. The pipelined search language will, in oneembodiment, include syntax that can direct the initial filtering step ina query to an inverted index. In one embodiment, a user would includesyntax in the query that explicitly directs the initial searching orfiltering step to the inverted index.

Referencing the example in FIG. 15 , if the user determines that sheneeds the user id fields associated with the client requests from IPaddress “127.0.0.1,” instead of incurring the computational overhead ofperforming a brand new search or re-generating the inverted index withan additional field, the user can generate a query that explicitlydirects or pipes the contents of the already generated inverted index1502 to another filtering step requesting the user ids for the entriesin inverted index 1502 where the server response time is greater than“0.0900” microseconds. The search engine would use the reference valuesstored in inverted index 722 to retrieve the event data from the fieldsearchable data store, filter the results based on the “response time”field values and, further, extract the user id field from the resultingevent data to return to the user. In the present instance, the user ids“frank” and “carlos” would be returned to the user from the generatedresults table 722.

In one embodiment, the same methodology can be used to pipe the contentsof the inverted index to a processing step. In other words, the user isable to use the inverted index to efficiently and quickly performaggregate functions on field values that were not part of the initiallygenerated inverted index. For example, a user may want to determine anaverage object size (size of the requested gif) requested by clientsfrom IP address “127.0.0.1.” In this case, the search engine would againuse the reference values stored in inverted index 722 to retrieve theevent data from the field searchable data store and, further, extractthe object size field values from the associated events 731, 732, 733and 734. Once, the corresponding object sizes have been extracted (i.e.2326, 2900, 2920, and 5000), the average can be computed and returned tothe user.

In one embodiment, instead of explicitly invoking the inverted index ina user-generated query, e.g., by the use of special commands or syntax,the SPLUNK® ENTERPRISE system can be configured to automaticallydetermine if any prior-generated inverted index can be used to expeditea user query. For example, the user's query may request the averageobject size (size of the requested gif) requested by clients from IPaddress “127.0.0.1.” without any reference to or use of inverted index722. The search engine, in this case, would automatically determine thatan inverted index 722 already exists in the system that could expeditethis query. In one embodiment, prior to running any search comprising afield-value pair, for example, a search engine may search though all theexisting inverted indexes to determine if a pre-generated inverted indexcould be used to expedite the search comprising the field-value pair.Accordingly, the search engine would automatically use the pre-generatedinverted index, e.g., index 722 to generate the results without anyuser-involvement that directs the use of the index.

Using the reference values in an inverted index to be able to directlyaccess the event data in the field searchable data store and extractfurther information from the associated event data for further filteringand processing is highly advantageous because it avoids incurring thecomputation overhead of regenerating the inverted index with additionalfields or performing a new search.

The data intake and query system includes one or more forwarders thatreceive raw machine data from a variety of input data sources, and oneor more indexers that process and store the data in one or more datastores. By distributing events among the indexers and data stores, theindexers can analyze events for a query in parallel. In one or moreembodiments, a multiple indexer implementation of the search systemwould maintain a separate and respective inverted index for each of theabove-described time-specific buckets that stores events for a specifictime range. A bucket-specific inverted index includes entries forspecific field-value combinations that occur in events in the specificbucket. As explained above, a search head would be able to correlate andsynthesize data from across the various buckets and indexers.

This feature advantageously expedites searches because instead ofperforming a computationally intensive search in a centrally locatedinverted index that catalogues all the relevant events, an indexer isable to directly search an inverted index stored in a bucket associatedwith the time-range specified in the query. This allows the search to beperformed in parallel across the various indexers. Further, if the queryrequests further filtering or processing to be conducted on the eventdata referenced by the locally stored bucket-specific inverted index,the indexer is able to simply access the event records stored in theassociated bucket for further filtering and processing instead ofneeding to access a central repository of event records, which woulddramatically add to the computational overhead.

In one embodiment, there may be multiple buckets associated with thetime-range specified in a query. If the query is directed to an invertedindex, or if the search engine automatically determines that using aninverted index would expedite the processing of the query, the indexerswill search through each of the inverted indexes associated with thebuckets for the specified time-range. This feature allows the HighPerformance Analytics Store to be scaled easily.

In certain instances, where a query is executed before a bucket-specificinverted index updates, when the bucket-specific inverted index may notcover all of the events that are relevant to a query, the system can usethe bucket-specific inverted index to obtain partial results for theevents that are covered by bucket-specific inverted index, but may alsohave to search through the event data in the bucket associated with thebucket-specific inverted index to produce additional results on the fly.In other words, an indexer would need to search through event datastored in the bucket (that was not yet processed by the indexer for thecorresponding inverted index) to supplement the partial results from thebucket-specific inverted index.

FIG. 7D presents a flowchart illustrating how an inverted index in apipelined search query can be used to determine a set of event data thatcan be further limited by filtering or processing in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments.

At block 742, a query is received by a data intake and query system. Insome embodiments, the query can be receive as a user generated queryentered into search bar of a graphical user search interface. The searchinterface also includes a time range control element that enablesspecification of a time range for the query.

At block 744, an inverted index is retrieved. Note, that the invertedindex can be retrieved in response to an explicit user search commandinputted as part of the user generated query. Alternatively, the searchengine can be configured to automatically use an inverted index if itdetermines that using the inverted index would expedite the servicing ofthe user generated query. Each of the entries in an inverted index keepstrack of instances of a specific value in a specific field in the eventdata and includes references to events containing the specific value inthe specific field. In order to expedite queries, in most embodiments,the search engine will employ the inverted index separate from the rawrecord data store to generate responses to the received queries.

At block 746, the query engine determines if the query contains furtherfiltering and processing steps. If the query contains no furthercommands, then, in one embodiment, summarization information can beprovided to the user at block 754.

If, however, the query does contain further filtering and processingcommands, then at block 750, the query engine determines if the commandsrelate to further filtering or processing of the data extracted as partof the inverted index or whether the commands are directed to using theinverted index as an initial filtering step to further filter andprocess event data referenced by the entries in the inverted index. Ifthe query can be completed using data already in the generated invertedindex, then the further filtering or processing steps, e.g., a “count”number of records function, “average” number of records per hour etc.are performed and the results are provided to the user at block 752.

If, however, the query references fields that are not extracted in theinverted index, then the indexers will access event data pointed to bythe reference values in the inverted index to retrieve any furtherinformation required at block 756. Subsequently, any further filteringor processing steps are performed on the fields extracted directly fromthe event data and the results are provided to the user at step 758.

2.13.4. Accelerating Report Generation

In some embodiments, a data server system such as the data intake andquery system can accelerate the process of periodically generatingupdated reports based on query results. To accelerate this process, asummarization engine automatically examines the query to determinewhether generation of updated reports can be accelerated by creatingintermediate summaries. If reports can be accelerated, the summarizationengine periodically generates a summary covering data obtained during alatest non-overlapping time period. For example, where the query seeksevents meeting a specified criteria, a summary for the time periodincludes only events within the time period that meet the specifiedcriteria. Similarly, if the query seeks statistics calculated from theevents, such as the number of events that match the specified criteria,then the summary for the time period includes the number of events inthe period that match the specified criteria.

In addition to the creation of the summaries, the summarization engineschedules the periodic updating of the report associated with the query.During each scheduled report update, the query engine determines whetherintermediate summaries have been generated covering portions of the timeperiod covered by the report update. If so, then the report is generatedbased on the information contained in the summaries. Also, if additionalevent data has been received and has not yet been summarized, and isrequired to generate the complete report, the query can be run on theseadditional events. Then, the results returned by this query on theadditional events, along with the partial results obtained from theintermediate summaries, can be combined to generate the updated report.This process is repeated each time the report is updated. Alternatively,if the system stores events in buckets covering specific time ranges,then the summaries can be generated on a bucket-by-bucket basis. Notethat producing intermediate summaries can save the work involved inre-running the query for previous time periods, so advantageously onlythe newer events needs to be processed while generating an updatedreport. These report acceleration techniques are described in moredetail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,589,403, entitled “COMPRESSED JOURNALING INEVENT TRACKING FILES FOR METADATA RECOVERY AND REPLICATION”, issued on19 Nov. 2013, U.S. Pat. No. 8,412,696, entitled “REAL TIME SEARCHING ANDREPORTING”, issued on 2 Apr. 2011, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,589,375 and8,589,432, both also entitled “REAL TIME SEARCHING AND REPORTING”, bothissued on 19 Nov. 2013, each of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety for all purposes.

2.14. Security Features

The data intake and query system provides various schemas, dashboards,and visualizations that simplify developers' tasks to createapplications with additional capabilities. One such application is thean enterprise security application, such as SPLUNK® ENTERPRISE SECURITY,which performs monitoring and alerting operations and includes analyticsto facilitate identifying both known and unknown security threats basedon large volumes of data stored by the data intake and query system. Theenterprise security application provides the security practitioner withvisibility into security-relevant threats found in the enterpriseinfrastructure by capturing, monitoring, and reporting on data fromenterprise security devices, systems, and applications. Through the useof the data intake and query system searching and reportingcapabilities, the enterprise security application provides a top-downand bottom-up view of an organization's security posture.

The enterprise security application leverages the data intake and querysystem search-time normalization techniques, saved searches, andcorrelation searches to provide visibility into security-relevantthreats and activity and generate notable events for tracking. Theenterprise security application enables the security practitioner toinvestigate and explore the data to find new or unknown threats that donot follow signature-based patterns.

Conventional Security Information and Event Management (STEM) systemslack the infrastructure to effectively store and analyze large volumesof security-related data. Traditional SIEM systems typically use fixedschemas to extract data from pre-defined security-related fields at dataingestion time and store the extracted data in a relational database.This traditional data extraction process (and associated reduction indata size) that occurs at data ingestion time inevitably hampers futureincident investigations that may need original data to determine theroot cause of a security issue, or to detect the onset of an impendingsecurity threat.

In contrast, the enterprise security application system stores largevolumes of minimally-processed security-related data at ingestion timefor later retrieval and analysis at search time when a live securitythreat is being investigated. To facilitate this data retrieval process,the enterprise security application provides pre-specified schemas forextracting relevant values from the different types of security-relatedevents and enables a user to define such schemas.

The enterprise security application can process many types ofsecurity-related information. In general, this security-relatedinformation can include any information that can be used to identifysecurity threats. For example, the security-related information caninclude network-related information, such as IP addresses, domain names,asset identifiers, network traffic volume, uniform resource locatorstrings, and source addresses. The process of detecting security threatsfor network-related information is further described in U.S. Pat. No.8,826,434, entitled “SECURITY THREAT DETECTION BASED ON INDICATIONS INBIG DATA OF ACCESS TO NEWLY REGISTERED DOMAINS”, issued on 2 Sep. 2014,U.S. Pat. No. 9,215,240, entitled “INVESTIGATIVE AND DYNAMIC DETECTIONOF POTENTIAL SECURITY-THREAT INDICATORS FROM EVENTS IN BIG DATA”, issuedon 15 Dec. 2015, U.S. Pat. No. 9,173,801, entitled “GRAPHIC DISPLAY OFSECURITY THREATS BASED ON INDICATIONS OF ACCESS TO NEWLY REGISTEREDDOMAINS”, issued on 3 Nov. 2015, U.S. Pat. No. 9,248,068, entitled“SECURITY THREAT DETECTION OF NEWLY REGISTERED DOMAINS”, issued on 2Feb. 2016, U.S. Pat. No. 9,426,172, entitled “SECURITY THREAT DETECTIONUSING DOMAIN NAME ACCESSES”, issued on 23 Aug. 2016, and U.S. Pat. No.9,432,396, entitled “SECURITY THREAT DETECTION USING DOMAIN NAMEREGISTRATIONS”, issued on 30 Aug. 2016, each of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.Security-related information can also include malware infection data andsystem configuration information, as well as access control information,such as login/logout information and access failure notifications. Thesecurity-related information can originate from various sources within adata center, such as hosts, virtual machines, storage devices andsensors. The security-related information can also originate fromvarious sources in a network, such as routers, switches, email servers,proxy servers, gateways, firewalls and intrusion-detection systems.

During operation, the enterprise security application facilitatesdetecting “notable events” that are likely to indicate a securitythreat. A notable event represents one or more anomalous incidents, theoccurrence of which can be identified based on one or more events (e.g.,time stamped portions of raw machine data) fulfilling pre-specifiedand/or dynamically-determined (e.g., based on machine-learning) criteriadefined for that notable event. Examples of notable events include therepeated occurrence of an abnormal spike in network usage over a periodof time, a single occurrence of unauthorized access to system, a hostcommunicating with a server on a known threat list, and the like. Thesenotable events can be detected in a number of ways, such as: (1) a usercan notice a correlation in events and can manually identify that acorresponding group of one or more events amounts to a notable event; or(2) a user can define a “correlation search” specifying criteria for anotable event, and every time one or more events satisfy the criteria,the application can indicate that the one or more events correspond to anotable event; and the like. A user can alternatively select apre-defined correlation search provided by the application. Note thatcorrelation searches can be run continuously or at regular intervals(e.g., every hour) to search for notable events. Upon detection, notableevents can be stored in a dedicated “notable events index,” which can besubsequently accessed to generate various visualizations containingsecurity-related information. Also, alerts can be generated to notifysystem operators when important notable events are discovered.

The enterprise security application provides various visualizations toaid in discovering security threats, such as a “key indicators view”that enables a user to view security metrics, such as counts ofdifferent types of notable events. For example, FIG. 17A illustrates anexample key indicators view 1700 that comprises a dashboard, which candisplay a value 1701, for various security-related metrics, such asmalware infections 1702. It can also display a change in a metric value1703, which indicates that the number of malware infections increased by63 during the preceding interval. Key indicators view 1700 additionallydisplays a histogram panel 1704 that displays a histogram of notableevents organized by urgency values, and a histogram of notable eventsorganized by time intervals. This key indicators view is described infurther detail in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/956,338,entitled “KEY INDICATORS VIEW”, filed on 31 Jul. 2013, and which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

These visualizations can also include an “incident review dashboard”that enables a user to view and act on “notable events.” These notableevents can include: (1) a single event of high importance, such as anyactivity from a known web attacker; or (2) multiple events thatcollectively warrant review, such as a large number of authenticationfailures on a host followed by a successful authentication. For example,FIG. 17B illustrates an example incident review dashboard 1710 thatincludes a set of incident attribute fields 1711 that, for example,enables a user to specify a time range field 1712 for the displayedevents. It also includes a timeline 1713 that graphically illustratesthe number of incidents that occurred in time intervals over theselected time range. It additionally displays an events list 1714 thatenables a user to view a list of all of the notable events that matchthe criteria in the incident attributes fields 1711. To facilitateidentifying patterns among the notable events, each notable event can beassociated with an urgency value (e.g., low, medium, high, critical),which is indicated in the incident review dashboard. The urgency valuefor a detected event can be determined based on the severity of theevent and the priority of the system component associated with theevent.

2.15. Data Center Monitoring

As mentioned above, the data intake and query platform provides variousfeatures that simplify the developer's task to create variousapplications. One such application is a virtual machine monitoringapplication, such as SPLUNK® APP FOR VMWARE® that provides operationalvisibility into granular performance metrics, logs, tasks and events,and topology from hosts, virtual machines and virtual centers. Itempowers administrators with an accurate real-time picture of the healthof the environment, proactively identifying performance and capacitybottlenecks.

Conventional data-center-monitoring systems lack the infrastructure toeffectively store and analyze large volumes of machine-generated data,such as performance information and log data obtained from the datacenter. In conventional data-center-monitoring systems,machine-generated data is typically pre-processed prior to being stored,for example, by extracting pre-specified data items and storing them ina database to facilitate subsequent retrieval and analysis at searchtime. However, the rest of the data is not saved and discarded duringpre-processing.

In contrast, the virtual machine monitoring application stores largevolumes of minimally processed machine data, such as performanceinformation and log data, at ingestion time for later retrieval andanalysis at search time when a live performance issue is beinginvestigated. In addition to data obtained from various log files, thisperformance-related information can include values for performancemetrics obtained through an application programming interface (API)provided as part of the vSphere Hypervisor™ system distributed byVMware, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif. For example, these performance metricscan include: (1) CPU-related performance metrics; (2) disk-relatedperformance metrics; (3) memory-related performance metrics; (4)network-related performance metrics; (5) energy-usage statistics; (6)data-traffic-related performance metrics; (7) overall systemavailability performance metrics; (8) cluster-related performancemetrics; and (9) virtual machine performance statistics. Suchperformance metrics are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/167,316, entitled “CORRELATION FOR USER-SELECTED TIME RANGES OFVALUES FOR PERFORMANCE METRICS OF COMPONENTS IN ANINFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT WITH LOG DATA FROM THATINFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT”, filed on 29 Jan. 2014, and which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

To facilitate retrieving information of interest from performance dataand log files, the virtual machine monitoring application providespre-specified schemas for extracting relevant values from differenttypes of performance-related events, and also enables a user to definesuch schemas.

The virtual machine monitoring application additionally provides variousvisualizations to facilitate detecting and diagnosing the root cause ofperformance problems. For example, one such visualization is a“proactive monitoring tree” that enables a user to easily view andunderstand relationships among various factors that affect theperformance of a hierarchically structured computing system. Thisproactive monitoring tree enables a user to easily navigate thehierarchy by selectively expanding nodes representing various entities(e.g., virtual centers or computing clusters) to view performanceinformation for lower-level nodes associated with lower-level entities(e.g., virtual machines or host systems). Example node-expansionoperations are illustrated in FIG. 17C, wherein nodes 1733 and 1734 areselectively expanded. Note that nodes 1731-1739 can be displayed usingdifferent patterns or colors to represent different performance states,such as a critical state, a warning state, a normal state or anunknown/offline state. The ease of navigation provided by selectiveexpansion in combination with the associated performance-stateinformation enables a user to quickly diagnose the root cause of aperformance problem. The proactive monitoring tree is described infurther detail in U.S. Pat. No. 9,185,007, entitled “PROACTIVEMONITORING TREE WITH SEVERITY STATE SORTING”, issued on 10 Nov. 2015,and U.S. Pat. No. 9,426,045, also entitled “PROACTIVE MONITORING TREEWITH SEVERITY STATE SORTING”, issued on 23 Aug. 2016, each of which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

The virtual machine monitoring application also provides a userinterface that enables a user to select a specific time range and thenview heterogeneous data comprising events, log data, and associatedperformance metrics for the selected time range. For example, the screenillustrated in FIG. 17D displays a listing of recent “tasks and events”and a listing of recent “log entries” for a selected time range above aperformance-metric graph for “average CPU core utilization” for theselected time range. Note that a user is able to operate pull-down menus1742 to selectively display different performance metric graphs for theselected time range. This enables the user to correlate trends in theperformance-metric graph with corresponding event and log data toquickly determine the root cause of a performance problem. This userinterface is described in more detail in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/167,316, entitled “CORRELATION FOR USER-SELECTED TIME RANGES OFVALUES FOR PERFORMANCE METRICS OF COMPONENTS IN ANINFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT WITH LOG DATA FROM THATINFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT”, filed on 29 Jan. 2014, and which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

2.16. IT Service Monitoring

As previously mentioned, the data intake and query platform providesvarious schemas, dashboards and visualizations that make it easy fordevelopers to create applications to provide additional capabilities.One such application is an IT monitoring application, such as SPLUNK® ITSERVICE INTELLIGENCE™, which performs monitoring and alertingoperations. The IT monitoring application also includes analytics tohelp an analyst diagnose the root cause of performance problems based onlarge volumes of data stored by the data intake and query system ascorrelated to the various services an IT organization provides (aservice-centric view). This differs significantly from conventional ITmonitoring systems that lack the infrastructure to effectively store andanalyze large volumes of service-related events. Traditional servicemonitoring systems typically use fixed schemas to extract data frompre-defined fields at data ingestion time, wherein the extracted data istypically stored in a relational database. This data extraction processand associated reduction in data content that occurs at data ingestiontime inevitably hampers future investigations, when all of the originaldata may be needed to determine the root cause of or contributingfactors to a service issue.

In contrast, an IT monitoring application system stores large volumes ofminimally-processed service-related data at ingestion time for laterretrieval and analysis at search time, to perform regular monitoring, orto investigate a service issue. To facilitate this data retrievalprocess, the IT monitoring application enables a user to define an IToperations infrastructure from the perspective of the services itprovides. In this service-centric approach, a service such as corporatee-mail may be defined in terms of the entities employed to provide theservice, such as host machines and network devices. Each entity isdefined to include information for identifying all of the events thatpertains to the entity, whether produced by the entity itself or byanother machine, and considering the many various ways the entity may beidentified in machine data (such as by a URL, an IP address, or machinename). The service and entity definitions can organize events around aservice so that all of the events pertaining to that service can beeasily identified. This capability provides a foundation for theimplementation of Key Performance Indicators.

One or more Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) are defined for a servicewithin the IT monitoring application. Each KPI measures an aspect ofservice performance at a point in time or over a period of time (aspectKPI's). Each KPI is defined by a search query that derives a KPI valuefrom the machine data of events associated with the entities thatprovide the service. Information in the entity definitions may be usedto identify the appropriate events at the time a KPI is defined orwhenever a KPI value is being determined. The KPI values derived overtime may be stored to build a valuable repository of current andhistorical performance information for the service, and the repository,itself, may be subject to search query processing. Aggregate KPIs may bedefined to provide a measure of service performance calculated from aset of service aspect KPI values; this aggregate may even be takenacross defined timeframes and/or across multiple services. A particularservice may have an aggregate KPI derived from substantially all of theaspect KPI's of the service to indicate an overall health score for theservice.

The IT monitoring application facilitates the production of meaningfulaggregate KPI's through a system of KPI thresholds and state values.Different KPI definitions may produce values in different ranges, and sothe same value may mean something very different from one KPI definitionto another. To address this, the IT monitoring application implements atranslation of individual KPI values to a common domain of “state”values. For example, a KPI range of values may be 1-100, or 50-275,while values in the state domain may be ‘critical,’ warning,“normal,′and ‘informational’. Thresholds associated with a particular KPIdefinition determine ranges of values for that KPI that correspond tothe various state values. In one case, KPI values 95-100 may be set tocorrespond to ‘critical’ in the state domain. KPI values from disparateKPI's can be processed uniformly once they are translated into thecommon state values using the thresholds. For example, “normal 80% ofthe time” can be applied across various KPI's. To provide meaningfulaggregate KPI's, a weighting value can be assigned to each KPI so thatits influence on the calculated aggregate KPI value is increased ordecreased relative to the other KPI's.

One service in an IT environment often impacts, or is impacted by,another service. The IT monitoring application can reflect thesedependencies. For example, a dependency relationship between a corporatee-mail service and a centralized authentication service can be reflectedby recording an association between their respective servicedefinitions. The recorded associations establish a service dependencytopology that informs the data or selection options presented in a GUI,for example. (The service dependency topology is like a “map” showinghow services are connected based on their dependencies.) The servicetopology may itself be depicted in a GUI and may be interactive to allownavigation among related services.

Entity definitions in the IT monitoring application can includeinformational fields that can serve as metadata, implied data fields, orattributed data fields for the events identified by other aspects of theentity definition. Entity definitions in the IT monitoring applicationcan also be created and updated by an import of tabular data (asrepresented in a CSV, another delimited file, or a search query resultset). The import may be GUI-mediated or processed using importparameters from a GUI-based import definition process. Entitydefinitions in the IT monitoring application can also be associated witha service by means of a service definition rule. Processing the ruleresults in the matching entity definitions being associated with theservice definition. The rule can be processed at creation time, andthereafter on a scheduled or on-demand basis. This allows dynamic,rule-based updates to the service definition.

During operation, the IT monitoring application can recognize notableevents that may indicate a service performance problem or othersituation of interest. These notable events can be recognized by a“correlation search” specifying trigger criteria for a notable event:every time KPI values satisfy the criteria, the application indicates anotable event. A severity level for the notable event may also bespecified. Furthermore, when trigger criteria are satisfied, thecorrelation search may additionally or alternatively cause a serviceticket to be created in an IT service management (ITSM) system, such asa systems available from ServiceNow, Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif.

SPLUNK® IT SERVICE INTELLIGENCE™ provides various visualizations builton its service-centric organization of events and the KPI valuesgenerated and collected. Visualizations can be particularly useful formonitoring or investigating service performance. The IT monitoringapplication provides a service monitoring interface suitable as the homepage for ongoing IT service monitoring. The interface is appropriate forsettings such as desktop use or for a wall-mounted display in a networkoperations center (NOC). The interface may prominently display aservices health section with tiles for the aggregate KPI's indicatingoverall health for defined services and a general KPI section with tilesfor KPI's related to individual service aspects. These tiles may displayKPI information in a variety of ways, such as by being colored andordered according to factors like the KPI state value. They also can beinteractive and navigate to visualizations of more detailed KPIinformation.

The IT monitoring application provides a service-monitoring dashboardvisualization based on a user-defined template. The template can includeuser-selectable widgets of varying types and styles to display KPIinformation. The content and the appearance of widgets can responddynamically to changing KPI information. The KPI widgets can appear inconjunction with a background image, user drawing objects, or othervisual elements, that depict the IT operations environment, for example.The KPI widgets or other GUI elements can be interactive so as toprovide navigation to visualizations of more detailed KPI information.

The IT monitoring application provides a visualization showing detailedtime-series information for multiple KPI's in parallel graph lanes. Thelength of each lane can correspond to a uniform time range, while thewidth of each lane may be automatically adjusted to fit the displayedKPI data. Data within each lane may be displayed in a user selectablestyle, such as a line, area, or bar chart. During operation a user mayselect a position in the time range of the graph lanes to activate laneinspection at that point in time. Lane inspection may display anindicator for the selected time across the graph lanes and display theKPI value associated with that point in time for each of the graphlanes. The visualization may also provide navigation to an interface fordefining a correlation search, using information from the visualizationto pre-populate the definition.

The IT monitoring application provides a visualization for incidentreview showing detailed information for notable events. The incidentreview visualization may also show summary information for the notableevents over a time frame, such as an indication of the number of notableevents at each of a number of severity levels. The severity leveldisplay may be presented as a rainbow chart with the warmest colorassociated with the highest severity classification. The incident reviewvisualization may also show summary information for the notable eventsover a time frame, such as the number of notable events occurring withinsegments of the time frame. The incident review visualization maydisplay a list of notable events within the time frame ordered by anynumber of factors, such as time or severity. The selection of aparticular notable event from the list may display detailed informationabout that notable event, including an identification of the correlationsearch that generated the notable event.

The IT monitoring application provides pre-specified schemas forextracting relevant values from the different types of service-relatedevents. It also enables a user to define such schemas.

3.0 USER JOURNEYS

As described above, machine data can be ingested, for example by thedata intake and query system 108, and events produced based on themachine data. The events can be utilized to provide insight into complexcomputing systems. For example, events can be accessibly maintained inthe data stores, and queries identifying a set of data and a manner ofprocessing the data can be executed. In this way, the machine data canbe investigated (e.g., poked) via differing queries, updated fielddefinitions, and so on, to identify useful information for requestingusers.

As an example of machine data in disparate computing systems maygenerate data in response to events, interactions, triggers, and so on.For example, a computing system may record network access events (e.g.,user account logins to a computing system), user events (e.g., acomputing system may monitor user activity or user behavior), servicerelated events (e.g., as described above with respect to Section 2.16),and so on. In some cases, the disparate computing systems can recorduser interactions with the computing systems. For example, the machinedata may include information indicative of a particular user interactingwith a computing system, along with further information describing theinteraction. Further interaction with one computing system can triggerthe computing system to interact with another computing system, whichmay generate machine data in response.

These disparate computing systems may therefore generate machine datathat describes multitudes of touchpoints associated with a respectiveentity (e.g., a user, an object, a computing system, and so on). In thisspecification, a touchpoint can refer to any interaction of an entitywith a computing system, or any interaction of an entity that isrecorded by a computing system. For example, the entity may include auser, and a touchpoint may include the user accessing his/her useraccount on a particular computing system. The particular computingsystem, which may be a domain controller or active directory server, maygenerate machine data associated with the user interaction.

A second touch point may include the user account performing an actionon a user device (e.g., a laptop, computer, tablet), such as causing adownload of information to the user device or accessing a virtualprivate network (VPN). The user device may generate data associated withthis second touch point. Additionally, a call received at a call centerfrom an entity may represent a third touch point. For example, acomputing system recording received calls may generate machine data inresponse to the call from the entity.

A combination of these touchpoints may, as an example, provide usefulinformation related to interactions with one or more computing systems.With respect to the example of users accessing their respective useraccounts, additional touchpoints may include particular types ofinteractions the user accounts perform, along with a touchpointspecifying that the users logged out of their respective user accounts.In this way, the touchpoints may help form a picture of a particularuser's utilization of an accessed user account or interaction withvarious computer systems associated with the user account. For example,a time at which the particular user accessed his/her user account, alongwith a location from which the access occurred, can be identified fromevents. Similarly, the system can identify whether the particular userperformed particular types of interactions, and then identify a time atwhich the particular user ceased accessing his/her user account.

Thus, users, or other entities, may interact with disparate computingsystems as part of an ongoing process, or journey. Being able to analyzeevents describing these interactions, and stitching them together togenerate a digestible representation of each user's journey may bebeneficial to understand these interactions. For example, stitching(e.g., aggregating) events together can provide insights into specificpaths typically taken by users to complete a journey. As an example, ajourney may be related to processing of an application, and aggregatingevents may inform all the interactions (e.g., different paths) thatdifferent users have prior to their respective applications beingcomplete. These insights may help improve future computer interactions,for example to reduce user frictions via an understanding of typicaljourneys.

As will be described below, a user journey may be defined that includesone or more steps. Each step can correspond to one or more events fromone or more data sources. Therefore, a user journey can indicateoccurrences of events across one or more disparate data sources or datasystems.

In some cases, the path of a particular user across one or more steps ofa user journey, or the user journey of a particular user or entity canbe referred to as a journey instance. In some embodiments, a journeyinstance can include a path through each of the steps of a user journey,and in certain embodiments, the journey instance includes a path througha subset of the steps of a user journey. Further, in certain cases, auser journey, such as a broadly defined grouping of touchpoints, steps,or events, a particular sequence of steps or touchpoints, or a groupingof multiple particular user's journeys may also be referred to as ajourney model.

A system (e.g., the data intake and query system 108) can executequeries based on the steps, and provide results (e.g., in one or moreuser interfaces) to reviewing users. For example, the results canindicate occurrences of touchpoints that may occur along a user journey.To relate these results to individual entities (e.g., users), forexample touchpoints of a specific entity, the system can stitch eventstogether that are related to each entity. However, as different eventsmay include machine data generated from disparate systems, these eventsmay not be easily relatable. For example, an event describing a firsttouchpoint of a user may identify the user in a first way (e.g., a nameof the user), while an event describing a second touchpoint of a usermay identify the user in a second way (e.g., a phone number of theuser).

As will be described below, with respect to FIG. 19 , one or morestitching schemes can be utilized to relate events. As described above,each step may be associated with a particular data source. For stepsassociated with a same data source, the events which satisfy searchqueries corresponding to these steps may be rapidly relatable. Forexample, the events from this same data source that are related to asame entity may include a portion of same information. A particularfield, for example a Session ID or User ID, may include a same value forevents related to a same entity. Therefore, a stitching scheme for theseevents may specify that events including a same value for the particularfield are related to a same entity.

However, for steps associated with different data sources, the eventswhich satisfy search queries corresponding to these steps may not beimmediately relatable. A stitching scheme for these events may thereforeinclude utilization of a lookup table that correlates events associatedwith different data sources. For example, and with respect to theexample described above, a lookup table can correlate names of userswith their phone numbers. Another stitching scheme for these events mayutilize ‘gluing events’, which can represent intermediate events thatinclude information associated with a first a data source andinformation associated with a second data source. As an example, a firstcomputing system may trigger a second computing system, and thetriggering may specify a Session ID or User ID related to an entity. Thesecond computing system may record this specified information in machinedata, and further record its Session ID or User Id. The system canexecute one or more search queries to identify these gluing events, andtherefore relate events that are associated with the first computingsystem and the second computing system.

While reference is made herein to a search query, it should beunderstood that search query can encompass any search of informationthat causes the system to determine satisfaction of particularconstraints, such as whether particular values, fields, and so on, areincluded in events. As an example, a search query may be specifiedaccording to the Splunk Processing Language (SPL) described above.

As an example of a user journey, a user journey can include stepsrelated to processing of a user application (e.g., application forparticular network credit application, job application, and so on). Forexample, a first step may be associated with receipt of an application.The first step may specify a query to identify occurrences of aparticular value for a field included in events. The field may berelated to actions performed by users, and the particular value mayreflect the action of receiving an application submitted by a user. Inthe example first step, the data sources may include informationreceived from, or generated by, computing systems at which applicationsare received. As described above, these data sources may be specified bya user creating the user journey, or optionally these data sources maybe automatically selected by the system (e.g., based on analyzing theuser journey). For the example user journey, additional steps mayfurther specify queries associated with the application's processingand/or status. Each of these additional steps may cause application(e.g., execution) of search queries on differing data sources, such thata user's application may be monitored across the data sources.

As will be described below, for example with respect to FIGS. 19-27 , auser can create a user journey through efficient user interfaces thatsuccinctly mask the complexities associated with analyzing millions,billions, and so on, of events produced from machine data of disparatecomputing systems. With respect to the example of an applicationdescribed above, a user can indicate data sources which include eventsdescribing status information of an application. The user can thenindicate how events correlate across data sources (e.g., stitchingschemes as described above). For example, as described above a lookuptable can be utilized to correlate information included in events thatare associated with different data sources. Steps can then be definedfor the user journey, and, as will be described, the search queriesspecified by each step can be generated via minimal user interactionswith a user interface. Optionally, the search queries can be generatedby the user, for example, using a query language (e.g., SPL as describedabove).

As will be described, at least with respect to FIG. 21 , to improveefficiency and ease of creating user journeys, common field identifierscan be created and utilized across data sources. For example, a usercreating a user journey can indicate that a field name specific to afirst data source corresponds with a particular common field identifier.Similarly, the user can indicate that a different field name specific toa second data source also corresponds to the particular common fieldidentifier. In this way, the user can create a user journey via a set ofcommon field identifiers such that steps can be rapidly defined. Anexample common field identifier may include ‘UserID’, and the user canindicate that a first field (e.g., a field specifying user name) inevents associated with a first data source corresponds to ‘User ID’.Similarly, the user can indicate that a second field (e.g., a fieldspecifying phone number) in events associated with a second data sourcesimilarly corresponds to ‘UserID’. Therefore, the user can create stepsthat can be used to generate queries to be applied to events associatedwith different data sources, with the queries specifying the commonfield identifier ‘UserID’.

Upon creation of a user journey, the system can execute queries definedbased on information provided by steps of the journey, and relateresulting events. As will be described, at least with reference to FIGS.29 and 30 , the system can analyze events being received in real-time,or the system can analyze events previously produced and stored in datastores, including field-searchable data stores. Additionally, asdescribed below at least with reference to FIGS. 18 and 31-36 , thesystem, or a presentation system in communication with the system, cangenerate user interfaces for presentation on user devices that describethe relating.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example user interface 1800 displaying a userjourney 1802. The user interface 1800 can be an example of aninteractive user interface generated, at least in part, by a system(e.g., a server system, the data intake and query system 108, and soon), and which is presented on (e.g., rendered by) a user device (e.g.,a laptop, a computer, a tablet, a wearable device). For example, theuser interface 1800 can be presented via a webpage being presented onthe user device. As another example, the webpage may be associated witha web application (e.g., executing on the data intake and query system108) that receives user input on the user device and updates inresponse. Optionally, the user interface 1800 can be generated via anapplication (e.g., an ‘app’ obtained from an electronic applicationstore) executing on a user device, and the application can receiveinformation for presentation in the user interface 1800 from an outsidesystem (e.g., the data intake and query system 108).

User interface 1800 includes a graphical depiction of an example userjourney 1802 that includes example steps 1806A-F. As described above, auser journey includes one or more steps, with each step corresponding toone or more queries to be applied to events associated with datasources. A particular entity, such as a user or object, can be monitoredas it traverses a user journey. For example, an initial eventidentifying an example user that satisfies one or more queriescorresponding to a first step may be correlated with (e.g., related to)a second event identifying the example user satisfying queriescorresponding to a second step. In this way, the example user can bedetermined to have traversed from the first step to the second step.Similarly, events identifying multitudes of users can be similarlymonitored, and related to determine which events are associated with asame user. User interface information describing results of the relatingcan be presented.

FIG. 18 illustrates summary information associated with example userjourney 1802.

As illustrated, steps 1806A-F are graphically connected via respectivevisual links 1803 between the steps. These links indicate transitionsbetween steps, for example the visual link 1803 indicates users'transitioning from step 1806A to step 1806C. Based on monitoring eventsfor occurrences of the steps 1806A-F, user interface 1800 presentsindications of a total number of users 1810 who have initiated userjourney 1802, indications of a quantity of users associated with eachstep (e.g., visual element 1808 may represent a quantity of users, withthe element 1808 optionally sized according to a number of usersassociated with the visual element 1808 as compared to the total numberof users 1810), and so on. Additional summary information includesaverage times associated with each step (e.g., transition between step1806A and step 1806B is illustrated as taking 44 minutes). In this way,a reviewing user can utilize the user interface 1800 to view informationotherwise buried inside complex machine data and events, via an easy todigest user interface 1800.

Optionally, the visual element 1808 can represent a single user. Asillustrated, visual element 1808 is illustrated as transitioning betweenstep 1806D and step 1806A. The example user journey 1802 may illustrateparticular steps (e.g., major steps, for example as specified by auser), but the user journey 1802 may include additional steps notillustrated. Thus, there may be steps between the illustrated steps1806D and 1806A. To determine the single user's location along with avisual link between step 1806D and 1806A, the system can utilize anumber of remaining (e.g., uncompleted) steps between the steps 1806D,1806A. Optionally, even without these additional steps, the system canpredict that the single user is transitioning (e.g., the single user islikely to be transitioning) between the steps 1806D, 1806A, based on atime since the single user completed step 1806D. That is, the system candetermine an average time from completion of step 1806D to completion ofstep 1806A across all users, or users with that share features similarto the single user (e.g., location, demographics, historicalinformation, and so on). In this way, the system can model the visualelement's 1808 location along a visual link based on a time since thesingle user completed step 1806D. For example, the system can identifyan event satisfying a query corresponding to step 1806D, and utilizetimestamp information included in the event.

In the example of FIG. 18 , user journey 1802 describes steps towardscompletion of creating a user account. Initial step 1806A indicatescreation of a user account, for example an event can be identified thatincludes machine data associated with the initial creation of the useraccount. The final step 1806F indicates implementation of assignednetwork access rights associated with the created user account. Asillustrated, different paths from the initial step 1806A to the finalstep 1806F are included. For example, a first path can traverse steps1806A, 1806C, 1806E, and 1806F. A second path can traverse steps 1806A,1806B, 1806C, 1806E, and 1806F. This second path differs from the firstpath in that, for at least one user, user information was obtained(e.g., step 1806B). For example, one or more events specifying theexample user may have indicated that user information was obtained(e.g., an event can indicate that a network call to a storage system wasperformed, or an event can indicate that a request for user information,such as an email, was provided, and so on). As described above, eachstep can correspond to, or be used to generate, one or more queries tobe executed, and the executed queries for step 1806B may have identifiedevents specific to the example user. In contrast, a different exampleuser who traversed the first path may have had his/her user informationentered at a time of user account creation in step 1806A.

As will be described in more detail below, with respect to FIG. 28 , anordering of the steps 1806 A-F, and thus a determination of the links1803 between steps 1806A-F, can be determined by the data intake andquery system 108 based on monitoring and/or relating events. Forexample, the data intake and query system 108 can identify occurrencesof each step for a particular user, and identify a path traversing thesteps based on timestamp information. Similarly, the data intake andquery system 108 can determine alternate paths based on monitoringmultitudes of users. In this way, the data intake and query system 108can operate with limited assumptions, such that all paths between stepsthat users take can be empirically determined. As will be describedbelow, with respect to FIG. 22 , the data intake and query system 108can determine most-used paths, and further cluster entities (e.g.,users) according to paths they traverse.

The user interface 1800 further illustrates representations of users whoare transitioning between steps. For example, visual element 1808 (e.g.,the visual element can be a circle, square, an arbitrary shape orpolygon, and so on) can represent a particular number of users who havecompleted a step and are traversing to a subsequent step. Optionally,the user interface 1800 can illustrate movement of the visual elementsbetween steps. For example, an animation of the visual elementstransitioning between steps 1806A-F can be presented. Optionally, aspeed associated with the movement can be based on a measure of centraltendency of an amount of time a transition takes. As will be describedbelow, the data intake and query system 108 can monitor occurrences ofsteps, and determine statistical information associated with themonitoring. In this way, the system 108 can determine that, for example,transitioning from step 1806A to step 1806C takes 44 minutes (e.g., ameasure of central tendency of transitions can be determined to take 44minutes).

Additionally, the user interface 1800 includes textual information 1804associated with the user journey (e.g., “User Account Creation”). Thistextual information 1804 can be specified by a user creating the userjourney 1802. Optionally, the textual information 1804 may beautomatically generated by the data intake and query system 108 based onan analysis of included steps 1806A-F. As an example, utilizing machinelearning techniques the data intake and query system 108 can analyzequeries specified in the steps 1806A-F, and determine correspondingtextual information that reflects the queries. For example, the system102 can compare the queries with queries utilized in other userjourneys, to determine similar user journeys. The textual information1804 associated with these similar user journeys may be analyzed andupdated via the machine learning techniques based on the specificqueries of user journey 1802.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example process 1900 for creating a user journey.For convenience, the process 1900 will be described as being performedby a system of one or more computers (e.g., the data intake and querysystem 108).

At block 1902, the system receives information specifying data sourcesassociated with a user journey. As described above, a user journey canutilize events associated with particular data sources. For example, auser creating the user journey may be interested in particulartouchpoints (e.g., user interactions) with disparate computing systems.The user can therefore indicate data sources related to thesetouchpoints. For example, if a touchpoint is associated with an entityplacing a call to a call center, the user creating a user journey canspecify a data source that records information associated with suchcalls.

Optionally, as the system receives information specifying data sources,the system can utilize machine learning techniques to recommendadditional data sources that may be of interest to the user. Forexample, if the user specifies a data source associated with a callcenter, the system can recommend a data source storing touchpoints(e.g., user interactions) with a front-end system. The system may assumethat the user will want to understand why a call center was called, andtherefore can recommend a data source indicating specific userinteractions that led to a call being placed. That is, the front-endsystem may record machine data describing user interactions on a webpage, with the web page specifying a call number. Therefore, if a callto the call number was placed, the user creating the user journey may beinterested in the user interactions with the web page which led to thecall. The system can analyze prior created user journeys, and determineclusters of data sources which are generally utilized together. In thisway, the system can recommend data sources to the user to increase aspeed at which the user journey is created.

At block 1904, the system maps fields included in events associated withthe specified data sources to common field identifiers. Each data sourcemay include events with differing field identifiers. For example, valuesof identifying information included in events associated with a firstdata source may correspond to a different field identifier than valuesof identifying information included in events associated with a seconddata source. The system can map these different field identifiers to asame common field identifier.

As an example, and as will be described in more detail with respect toFIG. 20 , a common field identifier may relate to a step. For example, astep may optionally be defined as corresponding to values of aparticular field included in events. For example, field values for afield named ‘action’ of events associated with a particular data sourcemay indicate user interactions. Therefore, the system can receive amapping of the ‘actions’ field to a common field identifier (e.g.,“Steps” as illustrated in FIG. 20 ).

As another example, and as will be described in more detail below withrespect to FIG. 21 , a common field identifier may relate to a sessionidentifier (e.g., ‘Session ID’ as illustrated in FIG. 21 ). A sessionidentifier can indicate a particular session of an entity, and can beutilized by a computing system to reflect interactions of the entity.For example, the computing system may generate machine data that tracksinteractions of an entity using the same session identifier. To stitchevents together that relate to a particular entity, the system cantherefore identify all events that include a same session identifier.

At block 1906, the system obtains information indicating correlationsbetween data sources. As described above, and as illustrated in FIGS.24-27 , stitching schemes can be utilized to relate events from samedata sources, and also relate events across data sources. That is, todetermine whether an entity has completed a user journey, the system mayhave to relate events together to identify that the entity has completedthe user journey.

A user of the system can specify these stitching schemes. For example,the user can indicate that for events associated with a same datasource, a particular field is to be utilized to identify related events.As described above, with respect to block 1904, a particular field maybe a session identifier, and the user can specify that the sessionidentifier field be utilized to identify related events. As anotherexample, the user can indicate that a user identifier be utilized torelate events from a particular data source. For example, events fromthe particular data source may include a user name associated with aninteraction. The user can therefore specify that user name be utilizedto identify related events from the particular data source.

Additionally, to relate events associated with different data sources,the user can indicate stitching schemes for these different sources. Asan example, and as illustrated in FIG. 24 , a user interface can bepresented to the user identifying the data sources selected in block1902. The user can then specify a stitching scheme between each of theidentified data sources. For example, the user can indicate that alookup table is to be utilized between a first data source and a seconddata source. In this example, the user can specify a field in eventsassociated with the first data source that are correlated with eventsassociated with the data source via a lookup table. As another exampleof a stitching scheme, the user can indicate that a gluing event is tobe utilized to relate events from a first data source and a second datasource. In this example, the system can execute a query to identifyevents (e.g., gluing events) from, for example, the second data sourcethat include a field associated with the first data source and a fieldassociated with the second data source. Based on these identifiedevents, identifiers associated with the first data source and seconddata source can be related. Further description of a gluing event isincluded below, with respect to FIG. 28 .

The system may optionally utilize machine learning techniques todetermine a stitching scheme. For example, the system can analyze fieldidentifiers included in events associated with the selected datasources. Utilizing similarity rules (e.g., a Levenshtein distance), thesystem can determine that identifying information may be similarlylabeled (e.g., a field identifier labeled ‘processID’ in a first datasource may correspond with a field identifier labeled ‘process_ID’ or‘process identifier’ in a second data sources). Optionally the systemcan automatically select stitching schemes utilized in prior createduser journeys. For example, the system can store information indicatingcorrelations between the data sources, and can be automatically utilizestitching schemes created for prior user journeys.

At block 1908, the system obtains selections of steps to be included inthe user journey. As will be described below, with respect to FIG. 23 ,the system can present steps that are able to be selected for inclusionin the user journey. For example, the steps may have been previouslycreated. Additionally, each step may optionally be specific to aparticular data source. Therefore, the steps can correspond to values ofa particular field identifier included in events associated with aparticular data source. For example, and as described above, a fieldidentifier can be associated with user interactions or touchpoints(e.g., a field identifier ‘action’). The system can present commonvalues of this field identifier as determined from the events associatedwith the particular data source, and the user can select one or more ofthese values to correspond to steps of the user journey. Subsequently,the user can select a different data source, and select values of afield identifier as corresponding to steps for this different datasource.

In some cases, the system can recommend additional steps to the userbased on current selections of steps. That is, the system can analyzeprior created user journeys and determine clusterings of steps (e.g.,steps that are commonly included in a same user journey). The system cantherefore cause presentation of recommend steps, which the user canselect or discard.

At block 1910, the system causes application of the created userjourney. Upon selection of the steps, a user can indicate that the userjourney is to be applied to events. For example, the user journey can beapplied as will be described below with respect to FIG. 29 . It will beunderstood that fewer, more, or different steps can be included inroutine 1900. For example, the system can generate the queries for eachstep based on the information received from the user via one or moreuser interfaces.

FIGS. 20-27 illustrate user interfaces associated with creation of auser journey, for example as described in FIG. 19 . For example, FIG. 20illustrates a user interface for specifying a field included in eventsof a particular data source (e.g., “Self-Service Portal”) that is tocorrespond with a common field identifier associated with availablesteps. FIG. 21 illustrates a user interface for specifying a fieldincluded in events that is to be utilized to relate events associatedwith a same data source (e.g., “Self-Service Portal”). FIG. 22illustrates a user interface for specifying information included inevents that is to be stored when events satisfying a step's queries arelocated. For example, if a step is related to a user adding an item to acart, FIG. 22 can be utilized to specify that for events satisfying thisstep, the system is to store an identification of the specific itemsbeing added. FIG. 23 illustrates a user interface for selecting steps tobe included in a user journey. FIGS. 24-27 illustrate user interfacesfor relating events between different data sources, for example userinterfaces to specify stitching schemes.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example user interface 2000 for identifying afield identifier whose field values are to indicate potential steps of ajourney in a particular data source. As described above, steps of a userjourney can be created, with each step being associated with atouchpoint or user interaction. In the example illustrated in FIG. 20 ,a common field identifier ‘Steps’ 2002 can represent generic steps for ajourney, and the user interface 2000 can be utilized to identify aparticular field identifier from the data source fields 2004 that ismapped to the generic step of the journey. That is, field values offield identifier selected from the data source fields 2004 can beutilized to identify occurrences of steps in a journey.

In the illustrated embodiment, the user interface 2000 includes a listof data source fields 2004 of events associated with the particular datasource (e.g., data source ‘Self-Service Portal’). A user of the userinterface 2000 can indicate which field identifier from the data sourcefields 2004 is to be used to identify steps in a journey, e.g., the datasource field 2004 whose field values correspond to steps of the userjourney. In the illustrated embodiment, the user of user interface 2000has selected field identifier ‘action’. Upon selection, user interface2000 has updated to list one or more field values 2006 associated withthe selected field identifier. That is, the data intake and query system108 identifies events associated with the particular data source, andidentifies field values included in events for the field ‘action’. Inthe illustrated embodiment, the field values for the field ‘action,’include at least: Login, Logout, Addtocart, RemoveFromCart, Checkout,viewProduct, compareProduct, Download, and ReadReview. In some cases,the field values 2006 can correspond to the most common field values forthe field ‘action’. However, it will be understood the system candetermine and display the field values 2006 using a variety oftechniques.

As described in greater detail herein with reference to FIG. 23 , a usercan select one or more of the field values 2006 as being a step in auser journey. Further, the data intake and query system 108 cangenerate, for each step, a query that identifies the field identifier‘action’ and a respective selected value of the field identifier. Inthis way, if the user later selects value ‘Login’ 2008 as a step, thedata intake and query system 108 can execute a query on eventsassociated with the particular data source that causes identification ofevents that include the value ‘Login’ 2008 for the field ‘action’.

FIG. 21 illustrates another example user interface 2100 for mapping afield identifier in a particular data source (e.g., “Self-ServicePortal”) to a common field identifier 2102. User interface 2100 enablesa user to map a specific field identifier 2104 of events associated withthe particular data source to a common field identifier 2102. In theexample, the user is mapping the specific field identifier 2104‘jsessionID’ to the common field identifier 2102 ‘Session ID’. Asdescribed above, the common field identifier 2102 ‘SessionID’ can beutilized to stitch events together into a particular user's journey. Forexample, the common field identifier 2102 ‘SessionID’ can be utilized torelate events associated with the particular data source. As anotherexample, the user can map field identifiers included in other datasources selected for use with a user journey to the same common fieldidentifier 2102. Since field values for the common field identifier 2102‘SessionID’ in the various events or machine data can be unique, thedata intake and query system 108 can utilize the field values for thecommon field identifier 2102 ‘SessionID’ of each data source to stichevents together as part of a particular user's journey. For example, allevents in a data source that have the value “WC-SH-G68” for the field“jsessionID” can be mapped together as part of a particular user'sjourney.

In some embodiments, the common field identifier ‘User ID’ can beutilized to stich events together. In some cases, the system canautomatically map a specific field identifier 2104 from the particulardata source to a common field identifier 2102. For example, the systemcan automatically map the specific field identifier 2104 “_time” for theevents associated with the particular data source with the common fieldidentifier 2102 ‘Time Stamp’, and so forth.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example user interface 2200 for specifyinginformation that is to be recorded for a particular step. As describedabove, the system can execute queries generated based on steps andobtain events satisfying the queries. In the example of FIG. 22 , aparticular step 2202 is associated with a user interaction of adding aproduct to a cart. A user of the data intake and query system 108 maywish to record, for this particular step 2202, information associatedwith the user interaction. That is, upon identifying an event satisfyinga query associated with adding a product to a cart, the system 108 canrecord (e.g., store) relevant information included in the event (e.g.,the information can be utilized to provide context).

Accordingly, the user interface 2200 presents field identifiers 2204included in a data source that are associated with the particular step2202 “Addtocart.” A user of the user interface 2200 can select one ormore of the field identifiers 2204, indicating that values of thesefield identifiers will be recorded. In the example of FIG. 22 , the userhas selected fields ‘productID’ and ‘ProductName’. In this way, upon adetermined occurrence of the particular step, the data intake and querysystem 108 can obtain a ‘productID’ and ‘ProductName’ associated withthe occurrence. Therefore, the system 108 can identify events associatedwith the ‘Addtocart’ 2202 step, and obtain contextual information fromthe identified events (e.g., product id and product name).

In some cases, the system can automatically record other informationrelated to the events identified in the queries, such as the fieldvalues that correspond to the common field identifiers. For example, thesystem can automatically record the time stamp of the events, the fieldvalue that corresponds to the field identifier of the data source thatwas related to the common field identifier Session ID, and so on.

FIG. 23 illustrates a user interface 2300 for selecting steps to beincluded in a user journey. As described above, with respect to FIG. 19, multiple data sources may be selected for a user journey beingcreated. For each of these data sources, one or more steps of the userjourney may be selected. That is, each step may be associated with auser interaction or touchpoint that is specific to a respective datasource.

User interface 2300 includes indications of five data sources 2302selected for a user journey (Call Center IVR, Point of Sale, Mobile App,CRM, NPS Survey). A user of the user interface 2300 has selected thedata source ‘Call Center IVR’ 2304, and the system displays the steps2306 that are available to be selected from the data source ‘Call CenterIVR’ 2304 for inclusion in the user journey. In some cases, theavailable steps 2306 can correspond to field values of a data sourcefield 2004, where the field values are included in events associatedwith the data source ‘Call Center IVR’ 2304. For example, with referenceto FIGS. 20 and 23 , the available steps 2306 (e.g., Explore Product,Compare Product, Add Product to . . . , Remove Product, Checkout,Changbe profile, Add credit card) can correspond to field values of an‘action’ field in the data source ‘Call Center IVR’ 2304. For example,once a user selects the ‘action’ field in user interface 2000, theavailable steps 2304 are obtained as field values for the selected field‘action’. In the illustrated embodiment, a user of user interface 2300has selected six steps 2308 for the user journey.

For the selected steps 2308 that are associated with the same datasource 2304, the system can relate the steps as described above withrespect to FIG. 21 . That is, events satisfying these steps can includethe same field value for one or more fields (e.g., the same field valuefor the field ‘jsessionID’), as they are all associated with the samedata source 2304. Therefore, the events can be related based on, forexample, Session ID or User ID as described above. For selected events2308 that are associated with different data sources, the system canrelate the steps using a variety of technique, examples of which aredescribed below with reference to FIGS. 24-27 .

FIG. 24 illustrates an example user interface 2400 for specifyingcorrelations between data sources 2402 selected for a user journey. Asdescribed above, with respect to FIG. 19 , events associated withdifferent data sources 2402 may include different information associatedwith an entity, such that determining that a first event and a secondevent from different data sources are associated with a same entity(e.g., user) can be difficult.

User interface 2400 presents a matrix 2404 specifying variouscombinations of the selected data sources 2402. A user of user interface2400 can indicate for any combination, how events associated with thecombination correlate. For example, a user has specified that eventsassociated with data source ‘Self-Service Portal’ and events associatedwith data source ‘CC IVR’ can be correlated using a lookup table 2406.That is, to stitch events together from these data sources, the systemcan use a lookup table to translate between the identifying informationof one to the identifying information of the other. As an example,events associated with ‘Self-Service Portal’ may specify a name of anentity, and events associated with ‘CC IVR’ may specify an address ofthe entity. A lookup table may therefore be utilized to translatebetween name and address.

FIG. 25 is a user interface 2500 illustrating a first example stitchingscheme 2502. To correlate between a first data source 2504 and a seconddata source 2506, a user of user interface 2500 has selected thestitching scheme, ‘Direct Match’. A direct match can indicate thatevents associated with the data sources 2504, 2506, include sameidentifying information, which may be found in fields having the same ora different field identifier. For example, one data source may use thefield identifier ‘username’ for a user's full name, whereas another datasource may use the field identifier ‘userID’ for the user's full name.Although the field identifiers are different, the field values forevents in the two systems that are related can be the same.

In the illustrated embodiment, events associated with data source 2504and events associated with data source 2506 may both include a field‘Session ID’ 2508, and the field values for the events in the differentdata source can match. Accordingly, the user can specify the fieldidentifiers ‘Session ID’ 2508 for each data source for association. Uponselection, the user interface 2500 can update with example matchingvalues 2510 associated with each field identifier 2508, to ensure that acorrect field identifier 2508 was selected. In some embodiments, whenrelating events based on a ‘Direct Match’, the system can use a varietyof techniques to identify the related events. In some cases, the systemcan determine whether the field values based on identical matches orsimilar matches using fuzzy logic. For example, the system can determinethat a field value in an event in one system of ‘David G Smith’ can berelated to an event from a different data source having ‘Dave Smith’,‘David Smith’, or David Smth’, etc.

In some embodiments, the user interface 2500 can be used to identify afield identifier in different data sources that are to correspond to thecommon field identifier 2102. For example, a user can enter a fieldidentifier for a field in the Self-Service Portal data source and acorresponding field identifier for a field in the Call Center IVR datasource that are to be used as the common field identifiers 2102 ‘SessionID’ for the respective data sources. The entered field identifiers canbe used to correlate events from different data sources as part of thesame journey.

FIG. 26 is a user interface 2600 illustrating a second example stitchingscheme 2602. To correlate between a first data source 2604 and a seconddata source 2606, a user of user interface 2600 has selected thestitching scheme, ‘Lookup Table’. As described above, a lookup table canindicate that events associated with the data sources 2604, 2606,include different field identifiers for the same or similar information.The user can specify field identifiers 2608, 2610, associated with eachdata source 2604, 2606, that include values specifying identifyinginformation. That is, to relate events from these data sources 2404,2406, a lookup table translating between values of field identifier 2608and values of field identifier 2610 is to be utilized. The user canspecify a lookup table (e.g., a network address of a lookup table, afile address, and so on) that includes information correlating betweenthe identifying information. The user interface 2600 can then update tospecify values 2612 determined to correspond to a same entity based onthe specified lookup table. In this way, a user of user interface 2600can ensure the proper field identifiers 2608, 2610, were selected.

FIG. 27 is a user interface 2700 illustrating a third example stitchingscheme 2702. To correlate between a first data source 2704 and a seconddata source 2706, a user of user interface 2700 has selected thestitching scheme, ‘Gluing event’ 2702. As described above, a gluingevent can indicate that an event specifies identifying information fromboth the first data source 2704 and the second data source 2706. Forexample, a first computing system may trigger a second computing system,and the second computing system may generate machine data that includesidentifying information received from the first computing system alongwith identifying information utilized by the second computing system. Insome cases, the data intake and query system 108 can execute a queryfrom events associated with the second data source 2706, and thereforeobtain occurrences of the handoff between the first computing system andsecond computing system. In this way, events associated with datasources 2704, 2706, can be related to a same entity. In the illustratedembodiment, a user has identified that field values of the ‘UserID’field of the ‘Self-Service Portal’ data source 2704 correspond to fieldvalues of the TreviousID field of the ‘Procurement System’ data source2706. As such, the system can identify a gluing event from the‘Self-Service Portal’ data source 2704 or the ‘Procurement System’ datasource 2706 that maps a ‘UserID’ from the Self-Service Portal’ datasource 2704 to the TreviousID′ of the ‘Procurement System’ data source2706. The field values for the UserID and PreviousID can then be used toidentify steps of a journey that span the two data sources 2704, 2706.

Utilizing example FIGS. 20-27 , a user can create a user journey andspecify how events are to be related (e.g., events associated with asame entity). Upon creation, the data intake and query system canexecute queries based on the steps of the user journey, and relateevents satisfying the queries. In this way, a user's progress throughthe user journey can be monitored, and user interfaces describingresults of the user journey can be presented to a user (e.g., as will bedescribed below, with respect to FIGS. 31-36 ).

FIG. 28 illustrates a representation of steps 2802-2810 included in auser journey. As described above, steps can be included in a userjourney being created. For example, a step can be selected from apre-existing list of steps, a user can specify unique queriescorresponding to a step, a step can be automatically included based onthe data intake and query system's 108 analysis of steps alreadyselected for inclusion (e.g., the system 108 can utilize machinelearning techniques to recommend additional steps), and so on. Thesesteps can be specific to particular data sources, for example searchqueries corresponding to the steps can be applied to events from theparticular data sources.

Panel 2800 illustrates example steps 2802-2810 that have been includedin an example journey. As described above with respect to FIG. 18 , thesteps may have no order associated with them. That is, each step may bedefined, such that events satisfying associated search queries, and thusoccurrences of each step, can be located—however, an order may not bespecified for the steps.

As the data intake and query system 108 relates events (e.g., executessearch queries corresponding to the steps 2802-2810, and relate thereturned events), the system 108 can identify occurrences of the steps2802-2810 that are associated with a same entity (e.g., user). Forexample, the system 108 can identify events that satisfy the queriesassociated with the steps 2802-2810. As described above with respect toat least FIG. 5 , each event can include a timestamp. The data intakeand query system 108 can therefore determine an order associated witheach step, based on a respective timestamp of an event satisfyingqueries corresponding to the step.

Optionally, a user may specify a particular order of one or more steps,such as an initial step and a final step. For example, particularentities may traverse through a portion of the user journey, or initiateat a different step than expected. Based on information indicating aninitial step and a final step, the data intake and query system 108 cantherefore identify that these particular entities have not completed theuser journey, or have avoided one or more initial steps.

Panel 2820 illustrates the steps 2802-2810 presented with linksspecifying paths traversed by users. For example, as the data intake andquery system 108 relates events returned as a result of application ofqueries corresponding to the steps, the system 108 can determineconnections between the steps 2802-2810. These connections can thereforeindicate a determined order associated with the steps 2802-2810. Forexample, FIG. 28 illustrates each step along with a directed linkconnecting to another step. In this way, the user journey can representa directed graph, such that differing paths can be traversed from theinitial step 2802 to the final step 2810. To determine the orderassociated with each path, the data intake and query system 108 canstitch together events associated with respective users that satisfysearch queries corresponding to the steps 2802-2810. Based on analyzingtimestamps associated with each user's stitched together events, thedata intake and query system 108 can determine an order of the steps2802-2810 for the user.

As an example of stitching together events, the data intake and querysystem 108 can identify a first event satisfying search queriescorresponding to step B 2804. Based on analysis of the first event, thedata intake and query system 108 can identify an entity (e.g., user)specified in the first event (e.g., a value of a field associated withuser identification can be obtained). Similarly, the data intake andquery system 108 can identify additional events that satisfy searchqueries corresponding to step C 2806. The data intake and query system108 can then stitch the first event together with one of the additionalevents that specifies the same entity, for example based on a stitchingscheme.

In this example, the first event and the additional event may include afield that indicates the same value associated with user identification(e.g., a user name) or session identification (e.g., a process ID).While these fields may optionally have different identifiers (e.g.,field names), as described above with respect to FIG. 25 , the dataintake and query system 108 can store information indicating fieldidentifiers that are to be used to stitch the events.

As another example, the first event and the additional event may includerespective fields that indicate values associated with useridentification, but with values that may be different. For example, andas described above with respect to FIG. 26 , the data intake and querysystem 108 can utilize information (e.g., a lookup table) to correlatebetween values of the respective fields. As an example, a user's name orother identifier may be included in the first event, while a user'sphone number may be included in the additional event. The data intakeand query system 108 can determine that the first event and additionalevent are associated with a same user based on the utilized information.

As an additional example, the first event and the additional event maybe stitched together via information included in an intermediate event(e.g., a ‘gluing event’, as illustrated in FIG. 27 ). For example, thefirst event may include information specifying a user's name. Theadditional event may include a different identifier, and no informationcorrelating the two may be obtained a priori (e.g., the system 108 maynot have access to a lookup table as described above). However, anintermediate event may include the user's name along with the differentidentifier. The data intake and query system 108 can therefore determinethat the first event and the additional event can be stitched together,based on the intermediate event.

As a more detailed example of a gluing event, a first event may beidentified as satisfying search queries corresponding to step A 2802.This first event may be associated with a first data source, and thefirst data source may include machine data generated by a firstcomputing system. This first computing system can generate machine datathat references user names. Therefore, events produced by the dataintake and query system 108 from this machine data can include usernames referenced by a field. Similarly, a second event may be identifiedas satisfying search queries corresponding to step B 2804. This secondevent may be associated with a second, different, data source, and thesecond data source may include machine data generated by a secondcomputing system. This second computing system may record interactions(e.g., touchpoints as described above) differently than the firstcomputing system. For example, the second computing system may utilizedifferent information to identify a user.

The first computing system may provide information to the secondcomputing system, for example the first computing system may trigger aparticular action or interaction on the second computing system. Inresponse to the trigger, the second computing system may generatemachine data specifying an identifier provided with, or determined basedon, the trigger (e.g., an identifier of a user utilized by the firstcomputing system). The generated machine data may further specify anidentifier utilized by the second computing system. Therefore, thishandoff between the first computing system and the second computingsystem may specify identifiers of a same entity (e.g., user) as used bythe respective computing systems. The data intake and query system 108can produce an event that includes this generated machine data, with afirst field specifying the identifier utilized by the first computingsystem and a second field specifying the identifier utilized by thesecond computing system. Similarly, instead of user identifiers, agluing event may utilize session or process identifiers. That is, thefirst computing system may include session identifiers in machine data,and the second computing system may record these session identifiersalong with its own session identifiers.

To stitch the first event and the second event together, the data intakeand query system 108 can access information specifying respective fieldidentifiers of the first field and the second field. The data intake andquery system 108 can then analyze intermediate events (e.g., the system108 can execute a query to identify ‘gluing events’ as illustrated inFIG. 27 ) that include both the first field and the second field. Forexample, the data intake and query system 108 can analyze eventsproduced from machine data generated by the second computing system foroccurrences of the intermediate events. Upon identification of anintermediate event, the data intake and query system 108 can obtainrespective values of the first field and second field. Since thesevalues correspond to a same user, or same session, the data intake andquery system 108 can utilize the obtained values to stitch together thefirst event and second event. In this way, the data intake and querysystem 108 can determine that a same user completed step A 2802 and stepB 2804.

Each of the stitching schemes described above, may be utilized whencorrelating entities across data sources. For example, a first datasource may be correlated with a second data source according to thedirect matching scheme. Similarly, the first data source may becorrelated with a third data source according to the lookup table, orintermediate event (e.g., ‘gluing event’) schemes. For ease andefficiency of use, and as described above, a user creating a userjourney can utilize a user interface to rapidly indicate the appropriatestitching scheme. For example, FIG. 24 illustrates a user interface 2400that enables the rapid indication of stitching schemes across datasources.

Thus, since the data intake and query system 108 can monitor eachentities' (e.g., users) traversal through the user journey, the system108 can determine one or more path's orderings of the steps 2802-2810 asillustrated in panel 2820.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart of an example process 2900 for presenting resultsassociated with a user journey. For convenience, the process 2900 willbe described as being performed by a system of one or more computers(e.g., the data intake and query system 108).

At block 2902, the system obtains information associated with a userjourney. The obtained information can relate to steps of the userjourney, one or more queries performed as part of a step, field valuesto be extracted from events identified by the queries, etc. For example,events can be events as described above with respect to FIG. 5 .

As described above, a user journey can include steps that identifyrelevant data from one or more data sources. In some embodiments, thesystem can use the information to define or generate one or more searchqueries to be applied to events. In certain embodiments, the system canuse the information to generate one or more search queries for each stepof the user journey. Accordingly, the obtained information can include adefinition of the steps of the journey, such as steps A-N 2901 asillustrated in FIG. 29 .

As described above, a user journey can be utilized to provide arepresentation of specific interactions (e.g., touchpoints) associatedwith entities (e.g., users). Each step may therefore correspond tosearch queries that cause identification of events recording thesespecific interactions. For example, using the information from a step,the system may define a query that causes identification of eventsrecording users adding an item to a cart, or removing an item from acart. This defined query can therefore specify a particular fieldidentifier associated with user actions, along with a specific valueindicating addition, or removal, of an item from a cart. In addition,the example step may further specify one or more data sources associatedwith the events that satisfy the query. As an example, a particular datasource may produce events recording user interactions on a front-end webpage presented on user devices. For example, the events may be producedfrom machine data generated by a server system (e.g., a web applicationon the server system, a front-end module recording user interactionlogs, and so on). The example step may specify that only eventsassociated with this particular data source are to be analyzed.

Additionally, and as described above, the accessed information canindicate stitching schemes to enable correlation across data sources.For example, the user journey may optionally include steps that specifymultiple data sources. To ensure that a same entity (e.g., user) is ableto be monitored in each step, the accessed information can indicateparticular stitching schemes between the data sources. For example, theaccessed information can indicate that events associated with a firstdata source include a field identifier with same values as values of adifferent field identifier included in events associated with a seconddata source. In this way, the system does not require guarantees thatfield identifiers are utilized consistently across data sources.Similarly, utilizing a lookup table and gluing events (e.g., asdescribed above), the system can stitch events together that includeboth differing field identifiers and differing values.

Optionally, in addition to one or more search queries corresponding to astep, the step can further define information included in eventssatisfying the search queries that is to be stored. For example, anexample step may be used to generate a query that causes identificationof events recording users' adding items to their carts. As describedabove, this example step may correspond to a query that specifies aparticular field identifier along with a value of the field identifier(e.g., a value indicating an action to add an item to a cart). Thesystem can identify events that satisfy this query, and as will bedescribed below with respect to block 2904, generate informationindicating, at least, that a user associated with each event completedthe example step. In this way, each users' traversal through the userjourney can be monitored. In addition to this generated information, theexample step can specify that values of one or more additional fieldsare to be stored. For example, the example step can specify that valuesof a field associated with a product being added to a cart are to bestored. (e.g., the field can indicate values specifying a product name,a product identifier, a product SKU, and so on).

At block 2904, the system relates events returned as result of queries.As described above, the system executes the search queries based on thesteps to obtain events satisfying the search queries. For example, andas illustrated in FIG. 29 , the system can execute the search queries onevents stored in the data stores 2905. Optionally, these data stores2905 may be field-searchable data stores, and the system can apply alate binding schema to execute a query on the data stores 2905. In somecases, the data stores 2905 can correspond to Oracle databases, MySQLdatabases, and so on. The system can then relate events returned as aresult of these queries, for example to stitch the events as beingassociated with respective entities.

To increase efficiency and speed at which events can be returned, thesystem can optionally execute each step's search queries in parallel.For example, if the events are stored in data stores 2905, the systemcan rapidly analyze the events according to the accessed informationdescribing the user journey. Since each step's search queries may not bedependent on each other, that is there may be no data dependency acrosssteps, the system can rapidly execute the search queries in parallel.For any returned event, the system can generate information specifyingthe satisfied step along with an identifier of an entity associated withthe returned event (e.g., a user). In this way, the user's traversalthrough the steps can be monitored. For example, the system can returnevents indicating that a particular user completed the user journey. Asanother example, the system can return events indicating that adifferent user completed a portion of the steps. The system can updatethis generated information as new events are produced from newlyreceived machine data. Optionally, the generated information can be aninverted index, with the inverted index referencing, for each entity,the returned events.

In certain cases, some returned events may include differing identifyinginformation. That is, a first event returned as a result of execution ofa first step's queries may include a name associated with an entity. Thesystem can therefore generate information specifying that the entitycompleted the first step. Similarly, a second event returned as a resultof execution of a second step's queries may include an addressassociated with an entity instead of the name. The system may thereforegenerate information specifying that an entity associated with theaddress completed the second step. Since the respective queries of thefirst step and the second step may optionally be executed in parallel, asystem may be unable to stich these two events together. However, thesystem can utilize a stitching scheme, for example as described in FIG.19 , to determine that the name of the entity, as included in the firstevent, corresponds with the address of the entity as included in thesecond event. For example, a lookup table may be stored in memory, suchthat the system can rapidly determine the correspondence. In this way,the system can stitch the first event and second event together, suchthat the system generates information specifying that the entitycompleted both the first step and the second step.

Optionally, the system may execute each step's search queries on eventsbeing received in substantially real-time. For example, disparatecomputing systems may generate substantially real-time machine datarecording, as an example, interactions with the computing systems. Thesystem can receive this machine data, and as described above, produceevents that incorporate the machine data. As these events are produced,the system can optionally execute each step's search queries todetermine whether the events satisfy any of the steps.

Optionally, as an event being received in substantially real-time isdetermined to satisfy a step's search queries, the event may be modifiedto reflect that satisfaction. For example, metadata describingcompletion of the step may be generated and included in the event. As anexample with respect to a step of adding an item to a cart, the metadatacan indicate that the step associated with an adding an item to a cartwas completed. For ease of reference, an inverted index associated witha user identified in the event can be updated to reference the event. Inthis way, the system can monitor and update the inverted index todetermine the user's status with respect to completion of the userjourney. That is, the events referenced in the inverted index can bemodified to reflect respective steps that were completed. In this way,the system can access the inverted index for a particular user, andbased on the references to events, rapidly identify the steps completedby the particular user.

Furthermore, an inverted index can be utilized to reference all eventsthat indicate some, or all, user interactions (e.g., touchpoints) ofeach user, thereby creating a timeline of touchpoints. For example, theuser interactions may be associated with steps of one or more userjourneys. A user of the system may request, for example via a userinterface as illustrated in FIG. 36 presented on his/her user device,that all touchpoints of a specified user be presented in the userinterface. The system can therefore access the inverted index associatedwith the specified user and present information obtained from thereferenced events. For example, the system can present times at whichthe touchpoints occurred (e.g., based on respective timestamps includedin the events), along with information identifying the touchpoints.Similarly, and as illustrated in FIG. 27 , a user of the system mayrequest that specified touchpoints of a specified user be presented.

While relating the returned events, as described above, the system candetermine statistical information associated with the steps. Forexample, based on timestamps included in the events, the system candetermine an average (e.g., measure of central tendency) time that ittakes to transition between the steps. As an example, the system candetermine an average time for a user to add a product to a cart and thencheckout. Alternatively, if the user removed the item from his/her cart,the system can determine an average time that the user has the productin his/her cart prior to removal. Similarly, the system can determine anaverage time that it takes users to complete all steps included in theuser journey.

Optionally, the user journey may include differing versions, and eachversion may be monitored. For example, a designer may modify a web pagethat is presented to a first set of users, while retaining an originaldesign of a web page that is presented to a second set of users. Thedesigner may desire to understand whether the modified web page resultsin a faster average time for users to transition from adding a productto a cart, to checking out. To discriminate between the modified webpage and the original web page, each event associated with the web pagemay be tagged as either the modified web page or the original web page.As an example, a computing system may provide machine data (e.g., logdata specifying whether a user received the modified or original webpage) to the system. The system can produce events from the receivedmachine data, as described above with respect to FIG. 5 , and caninclude a field indicating whether a user received the original ormodified web page. The system can then determine statistical informationassociated with each version of the user journey. In this way, thedesigner can obtain empirical information related to his/her designchoice.

At block 2906, the system causes display of at least a portion of theresults. Example user interfaces describing results of the relating aredescribed below, and illustrated in FIGS. 31-36 . As described above,with respect to FIG. 18 , these user interfaces can be presented on userdevices of users. For example, the system can respond to requests fromusers of the system, and cause display of easy to understand informationbased on the requests.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart of another example process 3000 for presentingresults associated with a user journey. For convenience, the process3000 will be described as being performed by a system of one or morecomputers (e.g., the data intake and query system 108, a server systemin communication with disparate computing systems that generate machinedata).

At block 3002, the system accesses information associated with a userjourney. As illustrated in FIG. 30 , information describing a userjourney 3001 can be accessed. Similar to the description of FIG. 29 ,the example user journey 3001 may include multiple steps eachcorresponding to one or more search queries. As will be described below,these search queries may be applied (e.g., executed) to identify eventsthat satisfy the search queries.

The example user journey 3001 further indicates that a particular stepincludes one or more sub-steps. That is, the particular step is a nesteduser journey that defines sub-steps that are completed as part of theparticular step. As illustrated, ‘Step N’ includes Sub-steps A-N, witheach sub-step corresponding to respective search queries. Similar to auser journey, the sub-steps of a nested user journey can specifymultiple data sources. That is, sub-step A may be defined as searchingfor machine data stored in a first data source, while sub-step N may bedefined as searching for machine data stored in a second data source. Inthis way, a user creating a user journey can build off of prior createduser journeys by incorporating them into the user journey as nested userjourneys represented as single steps including sub-steps. A graphicalrepresentation of a user journey that includes a nested user journey isdescribed below, and illustrated in FIG. 34 . While a nested userjourney is described with respect machine data in FIG. 30 , a nesteduser journey may similarly be utilized with events (e.g., events asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 29 ).

At block 3004, the system relates machine data returned as results ofthe queries generated based on the user journey. As similarly describedabove, with respect to FIG. 29 , the system can access data stores 3005storing the machine data and relate returned machine data (e.g., relatethe machine data as being associated with respective entities). Forexample, the data stores 3005 can be oracle databases, MySQL databases,field-searchable data stores, and so on. Optionally, the system maygenerate one or more database tables for each entity identified in thereturned machine data. For example, as a particular user is identifiedin returned machine data (e.g., associated with completion of a step),the system can generate a database table that records informationincluded in the machine data. With respect to this example, ifsubsequent machine data identifies the particular user (e.g., associatedwith completion of a different step) is returned, the system can updatethe generated database table to record information included in thesubsequent machine data. In this way, the system can maintain eachentity's status with respect to the user journey. Optionally, the systemcan maintain a database table associated with each step, and can record(e.g., in respective rows) information included in machine data returnedas a result of executing search queries corresponding to the step.

With respect to the nested user journey that includes sub-steps A-N, thesystem can relate machine data returned as a result of executing thesearch queries corresponding to the sub-steps. Optionally, if all of thesub-steps are indicated as being completed for a particular entity, thesystem can store information indicating completion of the nested userjourney. For example, the system can update a database table generatedfor the particular entity to indicate completion of the nested userjourney. Optionally, if sub-step N is determined to be completed for theparticular entity, the system can update the database table to indicatecompletion of the nested user journey. That is, the system mayoptionally assume that completion of the final sub-step indicatescompletion of the nested user journey. As described above, with respectto FIG. 28 , steps included in a user journey may be defined withoutrespect to order. As the system relates events or machine data, thesystem can identify a traversal order of the steps that each entitytook. The system may therefore identify that sub-step N corresponds to afinal step based on monitoring historical information associated withthe nested user journey. For example, the system can determine thatsub-step N corresponds to a final step. Additionally, and as describedabove with respect to FIG. 28 , a user who creating the nested userjourney may have specified that sub-step N corresponds to a final step.Therefore, the system can identify that machine data returned as aresult of executing search queries corresponding to sub-step N,indicates completion of the nested user journey.

As described above with respect to FIG. 29 , machine data associatedwith a same entity may include different identifying information.Therefore, the system can utilize one or more stitching schemes tostitch this machine data together. For example, first machine data maybe returned as satisfying one or more search queries corresponding to afirst step, and second machine data may be returned as satisfying searchqueries corresponding to a second step. As described above the firstmachine data and second machine data may include different values forrespective fields associated with identification information. The systemcan utilize, for example, a database table specifying correlationsbetween values of these respective fields to identify a particularentity that is associated with both the first and the second machinedata. Optionally, a database table generated for this particular entitymay be updated to include information from the first machine data andthe second machine data.

At block 3006, the system causes display of at least a portion of theresults. As described above, with respect to FIG. 29 , the system candisplay results of the relating performed on the machine data. Forexample, the user interfaces described in FIGS. 31-36 can be examples ofuser interfaces presented in response to the relating.

FIG. 31 illustrates an example user interface 3100 that includes a userjourney 3102 and information indicating clusters associated with theuser journey. As described above, an entity may traverse through stepsincluded in a user journey according to different paths. The system canmonitor these different paths, and determine a frequency with which eachof the paths is followed. Additionally, the system can determine alikelihood associated with an entity (e.g., user) following one of thepaths.

As illustrated in FIG. 31 , a user interface 3100 includes a userjourney 3102 and steps of the user journey. As similarly described abovewith respect to FIG. 18 , the user journey 3102 further illustrates aquantity of entities transitioning between each of the steps (e.g., asrepresented by visual elements 3106). On the right of the user interface200 includes a clustering 2204 of entities along with a likelihood ofany entity being included in the cluster (e.g., the likelihood canrepresent how common a particular path is). As described above, acluster of entities can represent entities who traversed a same paththrough a user journey. As illustrated, a user of the user interface3100 has selected the first two clusters, and in response the userinterface 3100 can update the user journey 3102 to present informationassociated with entities of the first two clusters. For example, aquantity of the entities traversing the user journey can be presented.Additionally, an average time for transitioning between each step can bepresented, with the average time being determined based on entitiesincluded in the selected clusters 3104.

Optionally, the user journey 3102 presented in user interface 3100 mayinclude only steps that were traversed by entities included in theselected clusters 3104. For example, the presented steps may have beendetermined (e.g., by the data intake and query system 108) to beincluded in paths traversed by the entities included in the selectedclusters 3104. If a user of the user interface 3100 selects one or moreadditional clusters (e.g., cluster 3), the user interface 3100 mayupdate to present one or more additional steps traversed by entities inthe additional clusters.

FIG. 32 illustrates an example user interface 3200 presenting summaryinformation associated with a user journey. Based on executing queriesand relating returned events, for example as described above withrespect to FIG. 29 , the data intake and query system 108 can determinesummary information associated with each user journey. As illustrated,the system 108 has determined an average number 3202 of entities (e.g.,users) who are traversing an example user journey per day. The userinterface 3200 also includes statistical information related to the userjourney. For example, the statistical information includes an indicationof an empirically determined initial step 3204 in the user journey.Additionally, the statistical information indicates a percentage 3206 ofentities who completed at least one step of the user journey, but whohave since dropped out from the user journey. Major steps 3208 areillustrated, which as described above with respect to FIG. 18 , canrepresent milestones that are to be depicted on a graphicalrepresentation of the user journey or optionally a step that is a nesteduser journey. Additional steps may be included between the major steps3208.

User interface 3200 further includes a number of policy violations 3210(e.g., “18” violations in the example). A user (e.g., a user creatingthe user journey) can specify particular constraints or potentialoccurrences that are to be monitored, and if detected, are to beindicated as a policy violation. For example, a policy violation canrepresent a particular step taking longer than a set amount of time tocomplete, or a transition between two steps (e.g., completion of bothsteps) taking longer than a set amount of time. As another example, apolicy violation can represent a user following a particular path (e.g.,a user completing a first step and then completing a second step, whichthis order being disfavored or other thought to be disallowed).

FIG. 33 illustrates another example user interface 3300 presentingsummary information associated with a user journey. The user interface3300 indicates real-time information associated with the user journey.For example, the user interface 3300 presents a count 3302 associatedwith entities traversing the user journey, along with a count associatedwith entities in each event. For example, to identify a count of usersin a step, the data intake and query system 108 can obtain indication ofa last known step for the users. Additionally, user interface 3300includes average wait times 3304 of the user journey. As an example, await time 3304 can indicate an amount of time subsequent to completionof a step, that completion of a subsequent step is detected.Additionally, the user interface 3300 indicates a throughput 3306associated with each step, with the throughput representing a number ofusers completing the step per unit of time (e.g., hour).

FIG. 34 illustrates an example user interface 3400 presenting a nesteduser journey 3404 included in a user journey 3402. As described above, astep of a user journey can include sub-steps, with the sub-stepsdefining a nested user journey. Nested user journeys can enable therapid creation of user journeys through re-use of previously createduser journeys. That is, a user of the data intake and query system 108can utilize previously created steps, user journeys, and so on, asbuilding blocks to create a new user journey.

As illustrated in FIG. 34 , a user journey 3402 that includes steps ispresented. Each of the steps is presented along a horizontal linerepresenting the user journey 3402. The user interface 3405 can respondto selections of steps, and present detailed information related to thestep. For example, upon selection of step 3406A, the user interface 3400can update to indicate a time at which an entity (e.g., user ‘Tula’)completed the step 3406A. Additionally, the user interface 3400 canpresent an event or other information that was returned as a result ofexecution of one or more search queries corresponding to the step 3406A,or the information from the event that was stored per the user journey.

In the example of FIG. 34 , a user of user interface 3400 has selectedstep 3406B. Upon selection, the user interface 3400 has updated toindicate the sub-steps 3408A-C included in the step 3406B. That is, step3406B is illustrated as being a nested user journey 3404. Times at whichthe entity completed the sub-steps of the nested user journey 3404 arespecified in user interface 3400. As described above, each of the stepsshown can correspond to one or more events that were identified as aresult of the system 108 executing a query. Similarly, each of thedisplayed steps of the journey can correspond to one or more events thatwere identified as a result of the system 108 executing a query.

User interface 3400 further indicates an ID 3410, which can represent aunique identifier associated with a user journey. As described above,different versions of a user journey can be created, and results fromeach version can be analyzed. Additionally, each user journey may beassociated with a unique identifier such that it can be monitored by thedata intake and query system 108. An entity 3412 is identified (e.g.,user ‘Tula Otten’), along with a start step 3414 and end step 3416. Thestart step 3414 can represent an initial step satisfied by the entity3412, and the end step 3416 can represent a final step completed by theentity. Additionally, an average time gap 3420 can be determined (e.g.,an average time between completion of the steps), along with a longestgap.

FIG. 35 illustrates an example user interface 3500 indicating a path3504 a particular entity 3502 took through steps included in a userjourney, which may also be referred to herein as a journey instance. Asillustrated, steps of a user journey are presented, along withindications of a time the entity 3502 took to transition between thesteps. The illustrated steps represent the particular steps that theentity 3502 completed. That is, in contrast to FIG. 18 which illustratesall paths traversed by any entity for a user journey, FIG. 35 presentsthe specific path 3504 that entity 3502 traversed through the userjourney. This path 3504 is indicated in user interface 3500, as per thepath frequency 3506 portion, as having been traversed by a particularnumber of all users (e.g., 25% of users). A user of the user interface3500 can search for a particular entity, and the data intake and querysystem 108 can analyze its related event information (e.g., as describedin, at least, FIG. 29 ) to present a path traversed by the searchedentity.

FIG. 36 illustrates an example user interface 3600 presentingtouchpoints 3602 associated with a particular entity 3604. As describedabove, each step may represent a particular touchpoint of an entity withrespect to disparate computing systems. For example, the touchpoint canrepresent a user interaction being recorded by a computing system. Atimeline of touchpoints can be generated by the data intake and querysystem 108, for example touchpoints across user journeys.

As illustrated, touchpoints 3602 of a particular entity 3604 arepresented. These touchpoints 3602 are based on a total number of userjourneys associated with the particular entity 3602 (e.g., 145 userjourneys). For example, the total number can include user journeysstarted (e.g., the particular entity 3604 satisfied at least one step),or include user journeys completed (e.g., the particular entity 3604completed a final step, for example as described in FIG. 28 ). Asdescribed above, with respect to FIG. 29 , particular touchpoints (e.g.,user interactions) can be specified to be monitored by the data intakeand query system 108. In this way, a timeline of the specifiedtouchpoints can be presented.

In the example of FIG. 36 , touchpoints 3602 are specified along withparticular times 3606 at which the touchpoints were recorded. Forexample, user interface 3600 presents a visual element 3608 asrepresenting a recorded touchpoint. A user of user interface 3600 canselect the visual element 3608, and the user interface 3600 can updateto specify detailed information related to this touchpoint. For example,the user interface 3600 can present a time at which the touchpoint wasrecorded (e.g., an event including information related to thistouchpoint can be presented).

JOURNEY INSTANCES AND MODELS

As described herein, a computing system can generate machine data inresponse to touchpoints or interactions that it has with users, othercomputing systems, or other entities. The machine data may includeinformation indicative of a particular user (or system) interacting withthe computing system, along with further information describing theinteraction. Furthermore, the interaction with the computing system cantrigger that computing system to interact with another computing system,which may generate its own set of machine data in response.

The machine data generated by various computing systems can be ingested,for example by the data intake and query system 108, which can produceevents based on the machine data. The events can be utilized to provideinsight into the complex computing system environments. For example, theevents can be accessibly maintained in data stores, and queriesidentifying a set of data and a manner of processing the data can beexecuted. In this way, the machine data can be investigated (e.g.,poked) via differing queries, field definitions updated, and so on, toidentify useful information related to the computing systems and users.

In some cases, multiple interactions with one or more computing systems,and the machine data generated in response thereto, can be related. Forexample, during a single session of a user, multiple events can begenerated that each relate to the user or session. In some cases, theseevents can be generated by one computing system or by multiple similaror heterogeneous computing systems.

A combination of these related interactions and associated machine data(or events) may be referred to herein as a journey instance. Thus, ajourney instance can include one or more events or step instances thatrelate to a particular user, session, entity, or the like. Further, theevents or step instances of the journey instance can be generated by thesame or different data sources or computing systems and have the same orheterogeneous data formats. Therefore, a journey instance can indicateoccurrences of events across one or more disparate data sources or datasystems. This includes occurrences of events across heterogeneous datasources and/or heterogeneous data systems.

A journey instance can provide useful information related to thefunctioning and operation of the one or more computing systems. Forexample, a journey instance can provide useful information regarding howa user, system, or other entity interacts with, e.g., “contacts” or“touches,” a computer system or set of computer systems. In addition, insome cases, a journey instance may help form a picture of a particularuser's utilization of a user account or interaction with variouscomputer systems associated with the user account. Furthermore, multiplejourney instances (e.g., multiple groupings of related events or machinedata), may help form a picture of the system's utilization rate,efficiency, or help identify the cause of an error. In addition,multiple journey instances can form a picture of common interactions(and a sequence of those actions) that a computing system has withusers. For example, multiple journey instances may be used to determinethe most common, relatively, interactions (and a sequence of thoseactions), or to determine interactions that happen infrequently. Invarious implementations, journey instances may include informationregarding time spent interacting with various computer systems.

In some cases, multiple journey instances can be used to generate ajourney model. For example, in some cases, the system 108 can combinemultiple journey instances to generate the journey model. The journeymodel can include steps that correspond to all, or a subset, of the stepinstances (which may be ordered temporally or otherwise) found withinany one of the journey instances and can indicate the various paths thatthe journey instances take through the steps. Thus, while a singlejourney instance can indicate a particular path through a particulargroup of steps (based on the step instances of the journey instance),which may not be all of the steps in a set of data, the journey modelcan, in some embodiments, indicate the various paths taken through anystep found within the set of data. Further, the system 108 can generatemultiple journey models depending on the journey instances beinganalyzed. In some cases, the system 108 can generate a first or primaryjourney model that corresponds to all of the journey instances generatedfrom a set of data. The system 108 can generate additional journeymodels based on a user filtering or identifying a subset of the journeyinstances for review.

Moreover, where a journey instance can include a particular sequence ofstep instances related together based on a pivot ID, user, or entity, ajourney model can include a particular number of steps (ordered orunordered) without relation to a particular pivot ID, user, or entity.In this way, a journey instance can be an instance, representation, orexample of a journey model, and a step instance can be an instance,representation, or example of a step of the journey model.

In certain embodiments, a journey model can be generated by identifyingone or more related steps or events with or without combining journeyinstances. In some cases, a user can identify certain events as stepswithin a journey model and/or identify certain values within events asindications of a step within a journey model. For example, a user canidentify a field associated with events as a step identifier andidentify each unique field value (or a selected subset of the fieldvalues) of the identified field as a step in a journey model. Similarly,if multiple fields are identified as step identifiers (across one ormore data sources), the unique field values across the identified fields(or a selected subset of the field values) can be identified as steps inthe journey model. In addition, in certain cases, a user may specify apreferred or expected order of the steps, which can be used to order thesteps of the journey model. In some cases, one or more journey instancescan be used to determine the order of steps of a journey model.Accordingly, in some embodiments, a journey model can include an orderedor unordered set of steps. Thus, the journey models can be orderedjourney models or unordered journey models. The ordered journey modelscan include a set of steps ordered in a particular way. The unorderedjourney models can include a set of steps, but may not include aparticular order for the steps.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art in light of thedescription above, the embodiments disclosed herein substantiallyincrease the ability of computing systems, such as the data intake andquery system, to process related data from one or more disparate datasources or computing systems that generate heterogeneous machine data.Specifically, the embodiments disclosed herein enable the data intakeand query system to parse heterogeneous machine data across disparatecomputing systems to identify and group related events and to generatevisualizations of the related machine data to facilitate understandingof the system topology and the interactions with and between disparatecomputing systems. The aforementioned features enable the system toreduce the computing resources used to correlate heterogeneous dataacross disparate computing systems. Thus, the presently disclosedembodiments represent an improvement in the functioning of such dataintake and query systems. Moreover, the presently disclosed embodimentsaddress technical problems inherent within computing systems;specifically, the limited capacity of computing systems to parse andcorrelate machine data from one or more disparate computing systems, aswell as the limited ability of such systems to generate visualizationsof correlated data in a manner that facilitates the understanding of theunderlying computing topology and interactions between and withdisparate computing systems. These technical problems are addressed bythe various technical solutions described herein, including theutilization of particular data structures and computing resources toidentify related data across one or more disparate computing systems andparticular data structures to indicate the relationship of the data.Thus, the present application represents a substantial improvement onexisting data intake and query systems and computing systems in general.

Non-limiting examples of visualizations of multiple subsets of events,multiple journey instances, clusters of journey instances, or one ormore journey models are shown at least in FIGS. 18, 31, 39A, 39B, 40A,40B, and 41 . Further, as a non-limiting example, a visualization ofsubsets of events or a journey instance, such as the visualization of ajourney instance in FIG. 35 , can be similar to the visualization of ajourney model, but in some cases, may only show the steps and pathsbetween steps associated with a particular user, entity, session, etc.The ability to analyze and relate individual events to generate journeyinstances or journey models facilitates the understanding of the complexinteractions that take place across one or more computing systems, andallows visualization, analysis, and/or inferences from the journeyinstances and/or the data underlying the journey instances.

While identifying related data can be helpful, it can be difficult to dogiven the large amounts of data ingested by the data intake and querysystem. This can be further complicated when the related data is locatedacross disparate data sources that store heterogeneous data. Thus, aswill be discussed in more detail herein, various embodiments allowidentification of related data, including in systems in which largeamounts of data are ingested and/or when the related data is locatedacross multiple or disparate data sources that may store heterogeneousdata.

4.1 User Interface Overview

FIGS. 37A and 37B illustrate an example user interface for identifyingone or more pivot identifiers and one or more step identifiers that canbe used to identify related data (e.g., events) from a set of data andto form journey instances and/or journey models. The set of data cancorrespond to data identified by selecting one or more data sourcesand/or by executing a query.

In the illustrated embodiment, the user interface 3700 includesinterface control objects 3701A-3701C, a data source section 3702, afield identifier section 3704, and a field value preview section 3706.It will be understood that the interface 3700 can include fewer or moresections, display objects, features, etc.

The interface control objects 3701A-3701C, can be used to select variousportions of the user interface 3704 for display. For example, the searchinterface control object 3701A can be used to select an interface thatincludes a search bar for entering a query. Similarly, thesessionization interface control object 3701C can be used to select aninterface that includes sections to indicate a time period or timeconstraints for the query, or for the events that can satisfy the query,or other constraints or conditions regarding the query. In theillustrated embodiment, the field mapping interface control object 3701Bis selected. Based on the selection of the field mapping interfacecontrol object 3701B, the interface 3700 displays the field identifiersection 3704 and the field value preview section 3706.

The data source section 3702 can be used to select a data source forreview. In some embodiments, the data source section 3702 can identifythe data sources or data streams corresponding to the data thatsatisfies a query. For example, if the query indicates that the set ofdata to be processed corresponds to all data from a particular index,the data source section 3702 can identify each data source correspondingto the events in the particular index. In certain embodiments, the datasource section 3702 can correspond to the data sources managed by theuser or the data sources selected for review as part of generating thejourney instances and/or journey models. In the illustrated, the datasource Buttercup Games is selected. The data source section 3702 mayallow the user to add additional data sources for review, or, in otherimplementations, the data source section 3702 may be populatedautomatically through various pre-determined settings, configurationsand configuration files, etc.

4.1.1 Displaying Field Identifiers

Based on a query and or a selection of a particular data source, thedata intake and query system 108 can identify and display in the fieldidentifier section 3704 the field identifiers of events from theparticular data source or that satisfy the query. In some cases, toidentify the field identifiers to be displayed in the field identifiersection 3704, the data intake and query system 108 can consult one ormore configuration files. As described in greater detail above, the dataintake and query system 108 can include one or more configuration filesfor each data source that provides data to the data intake and querysystem 108. The configuration files can include field identifiers forthe data received by the data intake and query system 108 from the datasource. Furthermore, the configuration files can include one or morefield definitions or regex rules to extract field values correspondingto the field identifiers. For example, the data intake and query system108 can include a configuration file that includes some or all of thefield identifiers for data that the data intake and query system 108 hasreceived from the data source Buttercup Games, as well as fielddefinitions for extracting field values corresponding to the fieldidentifiers found in data received from the data source Buttercup Games.In other implementations, the field identifiers may be obtained usingother techniques, including user input, machine-learning inferencesabout field identifiers, or other field identification techniquesdescribed in this and the incorporated applications.

In the illustrated embodiment, the data intake and query system 108 hasidentified and displays in the field identifier section 3704 a number offield identifiers corresponding to the data source Buttercup Games. Forexample, the data intake and query system 108 has determined that datafrom the data source Buttercup Games includes the fields: “ident,”“items,” “JSESSIONID,” “method,” “msg,” “other,” “product,” “productid,”“q,” etc. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the data intake andquery system 108 can identify the aforementioned fields by consulting aconfiguration file that corresponds to the data source Buttercup Games.In certain embodiments, the data intake and query system 108 canidentify the aforementioned fields based on user input, machinelearning, extracting the fields from the set of data, using a lookuptable or other system resource that indicates fields for a particularset of data, etc.

In some cases, the field identifiers shown in the field identifiersection 3704 can correspond to field identifiers of the data thatsatisfies a query. As mentioned above, a query can be used to identify aset of data to be processed. In some cases, the identified set of datacan correspond to data from one or more data sources. The data intakeand query system 108 can analyze the set of data (e.g., a group ofevents) that satisfies the query to identify field identifiers todisplay in the field identifier section 3704. In some cases, the dataintake and query system 108 can use one or more configuration files toidentify the field identifiers corresponding to the data that satisfiesthe query. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the fields “ident,”“items,” “JSESSIONID,” “method,” “msg,” “other,” “product,” “productid,”“q,” can correspond to fields associated with data from multiple datasources.

Upon selection of a field identifier, the user interface 3700 candisplay, in the field value preview section 3706, one or more fieldvalues corresponding to the selected field identifier. In certainembodiments, the data intake and query system 108 determines that afield identifier has been selected based on user interaction with thefield identifier, such as, but not limited to, hovering over, pointingto, clicking on, etc.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 37A, based on a selection of thefield identifier “JSESSIONID,” the user interface 3700 populates thefield value preview section 3706 with a list of field values for thefield “JSESSIONID.” In addition, the field value preview section 3706includes a count of each displayed field value for the field“JSESSIONID,” identifying the number of unique events that include theparticular field value or the number of instances of the particularfield value across the set of data. Similarly, in the illustratedembodiment of FIG. 37B, based on selection of the field identifier“action,” the user interface 3700 populates the field value previewsection 3706 with a list of field values for the field “action.”

In some embodiments, the system 108 can consult one or more invertedindexes, as described in greater detail above with reference to at leastFIG. 5B, to populate the field value preview section 3706 with fieldvalues and counts. For example, once a field identifier is selected fromthe field identifier section 3704, the system 108 can identify one ormore inverted indexes (e.g., inverted index 507B) that include afield-value pair 513A that includes the selected field identifier as thefield portion of the field-value pair 513A. Once the appropriateinverted index(es) is identified, the system 108 can identify the uniquefield values that correspond to the identified field based on thefield-value pairs 513A. The identified unique field values identifiedfrom the inverted index can be displayed as the field values in thefield value preview section 3706. Further, the system 108 can determinethe count for the field values in the field value preview section 3706using the inverted index(es). For example, as each field-value pairentry 513 identifies events with the field-value pair 513A, the system108 can sum the number of events for each field-value pair entry 513 toidentify the count value for each field value in the field value previewsection 3706. In other implementations, the system 108 can identify thefield values based on an analysis of the events (e.g., extracting fieldvalues from the events) or a subset of the events (e.g., the first 1,000events of a set of data), pre-processing the set of data, etc. In someembodiments, as the system 108 obtains the field values it candynamically update the field value preview section 3706. For example thefield values or counts in the field value preview section 3706 can beupdated as the system 108 parses the events, inverted or keywordindexes, etc.

4.1.2 Selecting Pivot Identifiers and Step Identifiers

In addition to displaying field identifiers in the field identifiersection 3704, the user interface 3700 can enable a user to identify oneor more pivot IDs, one or more step IDs, one or more attributes, etc.This can be done in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to,drop-down menus, text boxes, checks boxes, fields, etc. In theillustrated embodiments of FIGS. 37A and 37B, the user interface 3700includes a drop-down menu 3708 that enables a user to identify aparticular field identifier as an attribute, pivot ID, or a step ID. Inthe illustrated embodiment of FIG. 37A, the user has selected the field“JSESSIONID” and is determining whether to make the field “JSESSIONID”an attribute, pivot ID, or step ID. In the illustrated embodiment ofFIG. 37B, it is shown that the user selected “JSESSIONID” as a pivot IDand is determining whether to identify “action” as an attribute, pivotID, or step ID. With reference to the FIGS. 38-42 , it will be underthat “action” is selected as a step ID.

The selection status indicators 3710A-3710C, can be used to indicatewhether and how many step IDs, pivot IDs, and attributes have beenselected. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 37A, no step IDs, pivotIDs, or attributes have been selected. However, in the illustratedembodiment of FIG. 37B, one pivot ID has been selected as indicated bythe pivot ID selection status indicator 3710B. Further, as shown in theFIG. 37B, the field “JSESSIONID” has been selected as the pivot ID.

As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the field identifiers displayedin the field identifier section 3704 can correspond to all of the fieldidentifiers associated with the events in the set of data or cancorrespond to the field identifiers associated with the events from aone or more data sources associated with the set of data, such as thedata source “Buttercup Games” as illustrated in FIGS. 37A and 37B. Inembodiments where the field identifier section 3704 includes fieldidentifiers associated with a single data source, the user interface3700 can enable a user to select other data sources so that one or morestep identifiers, pivot identifiers, and attributes, can be selected forthe other data sources. For example, with reference to the illustratedembodiment of FIG. 37A, a user can select the data source “Sales Email.”In response, the field identifier section 3704 can be updated to showfield identifiers corresponding to data from the data source “SalesEmail.” As such, a user can use the updated field identifier section3704 to identify one or more fields for events from the data source“Sales Email” as a pivot ID, step ID, or attribute. This process can berepeated for as many data sources that correspond to data that satisfiesthe query or that is part of the set of data to be used to generate thejourney instances or journey models.

In embodiments, where field identifiers displayed in the fieldidentifier section 3704 correspond to all of the field identifiersassociated with the events in the set of data, the user interface 3700can enable a user to identify one or more fields as one or more stepidentifiers, one or more pivot identifiers, or one or more attributes.In certain embodiments, a single step ID can be selected for all datasources associated with events that satisfy the query. For example,certain fields within each data source can be associated with auniversal field, and that field can be identified as the step ID.

Using one or more pivot IDs and one or more step IDs, the data intakeand query system 108 can parse the set of data, or events, to identifyone or more journey instances and journey models, as well as identifyparticular steps within the journey instances and journey models.Further, the data intake and query system 108 can display visualizationscorresponding to the journey instances and journey models.

4.2 Pivot Identifiers

In some embodiments, the data intake and query system uses one or morepivot IDs to identify related events from the set of data and/or tocreate journey instances. In some embodiments, the data intake and querysystem 108 can identify related events and/or generate journey instancesbased on field values associated with the pivot identifier. For example,the data intake and query system 108 can identify the events from a datasource that include the same field value for the field associated withthe pivot ID (also referred to as the pivot ID field). The system 108can then associate the identified events as part of a journey instance.For example, with reference to FIG. 37A, the events from the data sourceButtercup Games with a field value of “SD5SLFF8ADFF4961” for the“JSESSIONID” field can be grouped as a set of events associated togetheras part of a journey instance. Further, the data intake and query systemcan generate a journey instance for each of the unique field valuesidentified in the field value preview section 3706, which would resultin at least 13 distinct journey instances.

In some embodiments, the user interface 3700 can enable anidentification of a subset of the field values in the field valuepreview section 3706 as field values for the pivot ID. In some cases,the system can ignore deselected field values and not use them to relateevents, build sets of events, or generate journey instances or journeymodels. For example, the user interface 3700 can include checkboxes orsome other indicator to enable a user to deselect “SD5SLFF8ADFF4961” (orany other field value). Based on the deselection, the system 108 canignore, discard, or not use events with the field value“SD5SLFF8ADFF4961” to build sets of events, journey instances, journeymodels, etc.

In embodiments where events from multiple data sources are to beassociated together as part of a single journey instance, the dataintake and query system 108 can identify a relationship between a uniquefield value of a field in a first data source with a unique field valueof a field in a second data source. Once the relationship between thetwo unique field values from different data sources is identified, thedata intake and query system 108 can associate the events from the firstdata source that have the first unique field value with the events fromthe second data source with the second unique field value.

Accordingly, in certain embodiments, the data intake and query system108 can identify a journey instance for unique combinations of relatedfield values across different data sources. As a non-limiting example,suppose events with the information identified in Table 1 are related.

TABLE 1 Field Value Pivot ID Field Data Source SD5SL5FF8ADFF4961JSESSIONID Buttercup Games X12245YZ sess_ID Sales Email 6812-TUXKE1user_ID Order Process Flow

Based on an identified relationship between the field values identifiedin Table 1, the data intake and query system 108 can generate a journeyinstance that includes all events from Buttercup Games that include thefield value “SD5SL5FF8ADFF4961” for the field “JSESSIONID,” all eventsfrom Sales Email that include the field value “X12245YZ” for the fieldsess_ID, and all events from Order Process Flow that include the fieldvalue “6812-TUXKE1” for the field user_ID. In an implementation, theidentified pivot ID or pivot IDs will be used to facilitatedetermination of relationships between field values. Specifically, in animplementation, identified pivot ID fields will be examined for fieldvalues that can be used to cross-correlate events across disparate datasets. It will be understood that the data intake and query system 108can use a variety of techniques to generate journey instances. Forexample, in some embodiments, based on the Table 1 above, the dataintake and query system can generate a journey instance that includesall events from any one of the data sources that includes any one of theidentified field values.

By identifying intra-data source related events and inter-data sourcerelated events, the data intake and query system 108 can generate ajourney instance that includes related events across one or more datasources. In some embodiments, the data intake and query system 108identifies intra-data source related events and inter-data sourcerelated events concurrently. In certain embodiments, the data intake andquery system identifies intra-data source related events before or afterinter-data source related events.

As a non-limiting example and with reference to table above, the dataintake and query system 108 can first separately identify the eventsfrom the data source Buttercup Games with the field value“SD5SL5FF8ADFF4961” and the events from the data source Sales Email thatinclude the field value “X12245YZ” before interrelating the events fromthe data source Buttercup Games and the data source Sales Email.Alternatively, the data intake and query system 108 can concurrentlyidentify and relate events from the same data source and from multipledata sources.

4.2.1 Gluing Events

In some embodiments, the data intake and query system 108 can identify arelationship between two unique field values of events from differentdata sources based on a gluing event that includes both field valueswithin the event. In some cases, when one computing system interactswith another computing system, one or both computing systems generate anevent that includes an identifier from both computing systems. Forexample, if a first data source that includes a value of “1234” for afield “cust_ID” interacts with a second data source, the second datasource may include an event with the value “1234,” as well as the value“ABC” for a “trackID” field. Further, the value “ABC” for the “trackID”field may be found in each event of the second data source that relateto the same user or session, and the value“1234” for the “cust_ID” fieldmay be found in each events of the first data source that relate to thesame user or session.

Accordingly, the system 108 can identify the event in the second datasource that includes the value “ABC” for the “trackID” field, as well asthe value “1234.” Based on the identification of this “gluing event,”the system 108 can determine that events with the value “1234” for thefield “cust_ID” from the first data source are related to events withthe value “ABC” for the field “trackID” from the second data source.Based on this relationship, the system 108 can generate a journeyinstance that includes events or steps across data sources, e.g.,multiple or disparate data sources. Moreover, there may be multiplegluing events within a particular data source, which would allow datasources having no fields in common to be connected, provided that anintermediate data source (or intermediate data sources) including gluingevents that linked to each of the data sources to be logically connectedand searched. Further, the system 108 can use gluing events within aparticular data source to identify primary and nested journey instances.For example, events in a primary journey instance can be associatedbased on a first pivot ID and events in a related nested journeyinstance can be identified based on a second pivot ID. Specifically, afirst data source could share a gluing event with a second data source,and the second data source could share a gluing event with a third datasource. The first data source and the third data source could then belinked and searched together, despite having no fields in common (or nofields in common capable of linking the two data sources).

In certain cases, to identify the gluing event, the system 108 canidentify the field value for a pivot ID field in a first data source andthen perform a search for that field value among the events from thesecond data source. In some embodiments, the search can be performed byanalyzing the machine data of each event and/or by analyzing an invertedindex or keyword index, as described herein. In embodiments where aninverted or keyword index is searched, in some cases, the system 108 canidentify a field-value pair entry that includes the searched for valueas the field value portion of the field-value pair or identify a tokenentry that includes the searched for value as a token or keyword. Itwill be understood that the system 108 can identify and/or search theinverted or keyword index in a variety of ways. For example, the system108 can search for the searched for value in any location of an invertedor keyword index.

With reference to the example above, if the “cust_ID” field isidentified as the pivot ID field for the first data source with a fieldvalue of “1234,” the system 108 can perform a search on the events fromthe second data source to identify any events with the value “1234”located within the data of the event. As mentioned, the search caninclude a review of the data (e.g., machine data) of each event from thesecond data source and/or a review of an inverted or keyword index thatcorresponds to the events from the second data source. With reference tosearching an inverted or keyword index, the system 108 can identify aninverted or keyword index that includes information about the eventsfrom the second data source, and then identify a field-value pair entryor token entry in the inverted/keyword index that includes the value“1234.” For the field-value pair entry, the system 108 can review thevalue portion of a field-value pair for the value “1234.” For thekeyword entry, the system 108 can review the keyword portion of thekeyword entry for the value “1234.”

The identified event(s) can be used to link the value “1234” to thefield value of the pivot ID field for the second data source. Once thetwo field values are linked, the system 108 can relate events witheither field value as part of the same journey instance.

In some embodiments, when searching for a gluing event, the system 108can limit the search to events from the second data source that includethe pivot ID field for the second data source. In this way, the system108 can exclude events from the second data source that will not have afield value that can be linked with the field value from the first datasource. With reference to the example above, the system 108 can excludefrom the search events from the second data source that will not have afield value that can be linked with the field value “1234” from thefirst data source.

In some cases, the system 108 can identify a field in one or more eventsfrom the second data source that includes the field value from the firstdata source. Such a field may be referred to as a linking field. Forexample, one or more events in the second data source may have the fieldvalue from a different computing system identified in a field“previousID.” Based on an identification of the linking field in theevents from the second data source, the system 108 can tune its searchfor events in the second data source with a field value that matches thefield value from the first data source to events from the second datasource that include the identified linking field.

With continued reference to the above example, once the system 108identifies the previousID field, it can narrow its search to thoseevents that include a field “previousID.”. In this way, rather thansearching across all events from the second data source for the fieldvalue “1234,” the system 108 can limit its search to a subset of theevents from the second data source (e.g., those events in the seconddata source that include a field “previousID”). By targeting the searchin this way, the system 108 can reduce the processing overhead used toidentify a gluing event.

Further, if using an inverted or keyword index to identify gluingevents, the system 108 can focus or narrow its search to field-valuepair entries that include the identified linking field as the fieldportion of a field-value pair. With reference to the example, the system108 can tailor its search in the inverted or keyword index tofield-value pair entries that include previousID as the field portion ofthe field-value pair.

In some cases, the system 108 can suggest certain fields as potentiallinking fields to the user. For example, the system can suggest to auser that fields with certain names or frequency may be useful aslinking fields. For example, fields like “previousID,” “prevID,”“oldSession,” etc. may be suggested as they may be linking fields. Thesystem 108 can obtain the list of fields using a configuration file orinverted or keyword index, as described herein. Similarly, the system108 can identify a particular event, such as an earliest-in-time eventfor a journey instance, or set of related events potential gluingevent(s). The fields from the potential gluing events can be suggestedto a user as potential linking fields. In other implementations, machinelearning techniques, e.g., training on known data sources withsimilarities to the data sources that are the subject of the instantsearch, may be used to suggest potential gluing events.

4.3 Step Identifiers

In certain embodiments, the data intake and query system 108 uses theone or more step IDs to identify events that correspond to steps, orderindividual journey instances, and/or generate journey models. In someembodiments, each unique field value, or a subset thereof, for a fieldidentified as the step ID (also referred to as a step ID field)corresponds to a step in a journey instance or journey model.Accordingly, based on the field value for the step ID field, the system108 can determine the step to which a particular event belongs. Forexample, if the event includes the field value “purchase” for the stepID field “action,” the system 108 can determine that the event is a“purchase” step.

In some cases, the data intake and query system 108 can parse journeyinstances using the step ID to identify the individual steps within thejourney instance. For example, with reference to FIG. 37B, once aparticular journey instance is identified, the data intake and querysystem can use the field values “purchase,” “addtocart,” “view,”“changequantity,” and “remove,” (field values of the step ID field“action”) to identify individual steps within the journey instance. Insome cases, the journey instance may include each of the unique fieldvalues of the step ID field, multiple instances of one or more of thefield values of the step ID field, or a subset of the field values ofthe step ID field. For example, with continued reference to FIG. 37B, ajourney instance can include zero, one, or more “purchase,” “addtocart,”“view,” “changequantity,” or “remove,” steps.

In some embodiments, the user interface 3700 can enable anidentification of a subset of the field values in the field valuepreview section 3706 as field values for the step ID. In some cases, thesystem can ignore deselected field values and not use them to identifysteps, categorize events, build subsets of events, or generate journeyinstances or journey models. For example, the user interface 3700 caninclude checkboxes or some other indicator to enable a user to deselect“addtocart” (or any other field value) Based on the deselection, thesystem 108 can ignore, discard, or not use events with the field value“addtocart” to build subsets of events journey instances, journeymodels, etc.

In some embodiments, multiple step IDs can be used to categorize eventsor build subsets of events. For example, as described herein, one stepID can be selected for one data source and a second step ID can beselected for another data source. Each step ID can identify a particularfield in the data source as the step ID field.

Further, in some embodiments, the system can use a second step ID tocategorize events in nested journey instances, which can be located inthe same or a different data source as each other or as the events inthe primary journey instance. In some cases, the nested journeyinstances can have a field value for a step ID field for a primaryjourney instance and a field value for a step ID field for the nestedjourney instance. In cases, where the events in the journey instancehave a field value for the parent primary journey instance, the fieldvalues may be the same (indicating they are all part of the same step)or different.

Moreover, in certain embodiments, multiple events (or a subset ofevents) can correspond to a single step instance. For example, thesystem 108 can determine that to satisfy the “addtocart” step or stepinstance, three events need to occur. As such, the system 108 canidentify the three events that make up the “addtocart” step. Based on anoccurrence of the three events (ordered or unordered), the system 108can determine that the “addtocart” step has occurred. In suchembodiments, events that make up a step instance or subset of events canbe categorized by one or more step IDs (e.g., can be categorized as partof the journey instance using one step ID and categorized between eachother using a second step ID) and may or may not form part of a nestedjourney instance.

In some cases, the system 108 can exclude one or more events using thestep ID. In some cases, if a particular event does not include a step ID(e.g., does not include the field identified by the step ID, does notinclude a field value corresponding to the field identified by the stepID, or includes an excluded field value for the step ID), the dataintake and query system 108 can discard the particular event as not partof a journey instance. For example, a gluing event may include a fieldvalue for a pivot ID field, but may not include a field value for a stepID field. As such, it may be discarded from a journey instance (butstill used by the system 108 to identify related events across differentsystems or related events from nested journey instances).

Furthermore, the step ID can be used to generate the journey model. Forexample, the field values (or a subset thereof) of the step ID field canbe identified as steps within a journey model. In certain cases, some orall of the journey instances identified from the set of data can be usedto form a journey model (e.g., by combining the journey instances oridentifying journey model's step order from the journey instances).Thus, where a single journey instance may include a subset of the fieldvalues of the step ID field, a journey model can include all of thefield values for the step ID field or all of the field values for thestep ID field found within any single journey instance. Furthermore, thejourney model can identify the different paths between its steps or thesteps of the different journey instances.

In some embodiments, the data intake and query system can use atimestamp associated with each event or step to identify and order thesteps of a journey instance. For example, based on a timestamp for a“view” step that is earlier in time than the timestamp for a “purchase”step, the system 108 can determine that the “view” step precedes the“purchase” step for the journey instance. If there are not interveningtimestamps from related steps, the system 108 can determine that the“view” step immediately precedes the “purchase” step. In certainembodiments, such as when steps are taken in a particular order, thestep ID can be used to identify the order. For example, if a “login”step is required before a “view” step, then the system 108 can determinethe order of the steps based on their identification. In otherimplementations, the journey instance may be ordered using othertechniques, such as analyzing the underlying data or metadata that makesup the steps of the journey instance.

In certain embodiments, the data intake and query system 108 canidentify and order a journey instance without the use of a step ID. Forexample, the data intake and query system 108 can identify relatedevents using one or more pivot IDs, and can order the related events asjourney instances based on timestamps associated with the identifiedrelated events.

Although reference in the above examples is made to parsing journeyinstances/models to identify steps within them, it will be understoodthat the data intake and query system 108 can parse events to identifysteps using one or more step IDs and then interrelate the steps intojourney instances using one or more pivot IDs, or concurrently identifyjourney instances and steps. For example, it will be understood that theone or more pivot IDs can be selected before, after, or concurrentlywith the one or more step IDs. In some embodiments, based on a selectionof the one or more pivot IDs prior to one or more step IDs, the dataintake and query system can identify journey instances from the events.Upon selection of one or more step of IDs, the data intake and querysystem 108 can then parse the journey instances to identify one or moresteps within them. In certain embodiments, based on a selection of oneor more step IDs prior to one or more pivot IDs, the data intake andquery system 108 can identify events that correspond to steps. Uponselection of one or more pivot IDs, the data intake and query system canparse the events identified as steps to identify journey instances.

4.4 Attributes

The attributes can be used to track, categorize, or group events,subsets of events, journey instances, or journey models. In some cases,when the user selects a field as an attribute, the system 108 can trackthe field values for the selected field as the system generate thejourney instances or models. For example, with reference to FIG. 37A, ifthe field “method” is selected as an attribute and includes field valuesof “email,” “phone,” “SMS,” “FTP,” and “instant message,” the system 108can track which step instances or events in the journey instancesinclude the different field values.

Using the field values of the attribute field, the system 108 canfilter, group, sort, visualize, or otherwise manipulate the journeyinstances or models. For example, the system 108 can build one or morejourney instances or journey models using only events that include thefield value “SMS,” or some other subset of field values, for theattribute field. Similarly, the system can build a journey model withjourney instances that only include events with the field value “phone”for the attribute field or generate visualizations of journey instancesthat include an event with the field value “email” for the “method”field. As yet another example, the system can group or sort journeyinstances or journey models based on the field value for the attributefield. Thus, one or more fields identified as one or more attributes canenable the system to manipulate subsets of events, journey instances, orjourney models in a variety of ways. In this way, the system 108 canfacilitate the understanding of the machine data and the interactionswithin the computing system.

4.5 Journey Summarization Overview

Based on the selection of one or more pivot IDs and one or more step IDsand the processing of the events of the set of data, the data intake andquery system 108 can identify and organize journey instances. Asdiscussed herein, in some embodiments, the data intake and query system108 can identify a path through a journey instance based on timestampsassociated with the events of the journey instance. For example, thedata intake and query system 108 can order the step instances of thejourney instance in chronological order and show paths between the stepinstances. As mentioned, in some cases, a journey instance may includemultiple step instances of the same step (e.g., system recording that auser is interacting with a computer system in the same way multipletimes, or is iteratively going through a set or subset of interactionswith a computer system) or pass through each step instance of thejourney instance once.

In some embodiments, the journey instances can be used to form a journeymodel. For example, a group of journey instances can be combined to formthe journey model. In some cases, some or all of the identified journeyinstances for a set of data can be combined to form the journey model.For example, the journey model may be based on only those journeyinstances that include a certain number of step instances or aparticular order of step instances. In addition, the journey model canindicate the various pathways between its different steps as taken bythe individual journey instances. Furthermore, the data intake and querysystem 108 can determine various analytics associated with the journeymodel, such as, but not limited to, common paths through the steps ofthe journey model, average time between each step, average length oftime of a journey instance, most common steps in a journey, etc. Thesystem 108 can display visualizations of the journey instances, journeymodels, and/or associated analytics to facilitate the understanding ofrelationships between events, data sources, and computing systems.

Using the pivot ID and step ID, the system 108 can more efficiently(e.g., using less computing resources) identify related events and anordering of those events to generate or build journey instances orjourney models. Using the journey instances and the journey model, thedata intake and query system 108 can more efficiently identifyrelationships between events across one more heterogeneous data systemsand facilitate the understanding of the complex interactions with thevarious data sources. Furthermore, based on the identification of theone or more pivot IDs in one or more step IDs, the data intake and querysystem can more efficiently process the events to identify relatedevents and typical journeys through the related events.

FIG. 38 is a diagram illustrating an example user interface 3800displaying an embodiment of a journey summarization. In the illustratedembodiment, the user interface 3800 includes a data source section 3702and a journey overview section 3802. The journey overview section 3802can include analytics of the events, steps, one or more journeyinstances, or one or more journey models. For example, in theillustrated embodiment, the journey overview section 3802 includes atotal journey instances section 3804, total events section 3806, timingparameters 3808A, 3808B, journey instance distributions graphic 3810,and a step analytics section 3812. It will be understood that thejourney overview section 3802 can include fewer or more analytics andinformation associated with the events, journey instances, or journeymodel(s), as desired. For example, the user interface 3800 can includeportions of events of one or more journey instances, identify commonpathways through one or more journey models, etc.

The total journey instances section 3804 can indicate the total numberof journey instances identified from the analyzed events or set of data.As discussed above, in some cases, the total number of journey instancescan correspond to a total number of unique field values for a pivot IDfield, or a total number of unique combinations of related field valuesfor multiple pivot ID fields across one or more data sources.

The total events section 3806 can indicate the total number of eventsanalyzed in order to form the journey instances. In some cases, all ofthe events can be included in a journey instance. However in certaincases some of the events may be excluded from a journey instance. Forexample, an event from a data source may not include a field identifierthat corresponds to the selected pivot ID field(s) or step ID field(s),or may include a field value that was excluded from a pivot ID field orstep ID field. Such an event may not be included in a journey instance.

The timing parameters sections 3808A, 3808B, can indicate certainparameters used to identify journey instances. For example, withreference to FIG. 37A, a user can select the sessionization interfacecontrol object 3701C to identify time limits to identify journeyinstances or to identify one or more additional command or constraintsfor the set of data. Based on the indicated time limits, the data intakeand query system 108 can determine when a journey instance is supposedto end. For example, in the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 38 , a maxtime limit of one hour has been set. Accordingly, in some cases, thedata intake and query system 108 can determine that if two eventsinclude the same field value for the pivot ID field but are separated bymore than one hour, then they correspond to different journey instances.In some cases, the data intake and query system 108 can use the timingparameters to determine when the journey instance has terminated. Forexample, if no event with a matching field value for a pivot ID fieldhas a timestamp within one hour of the latest-in-time event of a journeyinstance (e.g., based on a timestamp associated with the events of thejourney instance), then the data intake and query system 108 candetermine that the identified latest-in-time event is the last event forthe journey instance.

The journey instance length distribution graphic 3810 can be used tographically illustrate the quantity of journey instances of a particularlength or having a particular number of step instances. In some cases,the journey instance length distribution graphic 3810 can group journeyinstances with the same number of step instances together and displaythe number of journey instances with that particular number of stepinstances. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, the largest shareof journey instances have one step instance and there are progressivelyfewer journey instances for each additional step instance (e.g., thereare approximately 1,000 journey instances with two or three journeyinstances, approximately 550 journey instances with six step instances,etc.). It will be understood that additional graphics can be used toillustrate information about the journey instances, journey models, orevents, as desired.

The step analytics section 3812 can identify the steps of one or morejourney model or step instances of one or more journey instances as wellas various analytics associated with each. In the illustratedembodiment, the step analytics section 3812 identifies a count, startpercentage, and end percentage for each step. The count can correspondto the number of journey instances that include that a step instancethat corresponds to the particular step and/or the number of instancesof that step found within the events (e.g., one step may occur multipletimes within a single journey instance). The start percentage and endpercentage can indicate the percentage of journey instances that includea step instance that corresponds to that particular step as the first orlast step (e.g., number of journey instances that include a stepinstance that corresponds to the step as the first or last stepinstance/the total number of journey instances), respectively, or thepercentage of times that the particular step is the first or last stepinstance in a journey instance (e.g., the number of time that the stepis found as the first or last step instance of a journey instance/thetotal number of instances of that step), respectively. It will beunderstood that fewer or more analytics can be displayed as part of thestep analytics section 3812. For example, the steps analytics section3812 can include information about common orders or relationshipsbetween steps, the number of instances of a particular order of steps,average time between steps, average time on a particular step, number ofjourney instances that started with a step instance that corresponds tothat step, number of journey instances that ended with a step instancethat corresponds to that step, number (and identification) of steps thatoccurred before or after that step for one or more journey instances,most/least common steps (and identification) that occurred before/afterthat step, number of journey instances that include a step instance thatcorresponds to that step more than once, number of journey instancesthat include a threshold number of step instances that correspond tothat (or visited that step more or less than a particular number oftimes), number of journey instances that visited that include a stepinstance that corresponds to the step but does not include a stepinstance that corresponds to a particular different step, number ofjourney instances that include a step instance that corresponds to stepdirectly before or after a particular step, any of the foregoing metricsapplied to a number of journey instances or users that meet a particularattribute, etc.

4.5 Journey Visualizations

FIGS. 39A, 39B, 40A, 40B, 41, and 42 are diagrams illustrating anexample user interface 3900 displaying embodiments of journeysummarizations, which can include, but are not limited to visualizationsof events, subsets of events, journey instances, journey models, or alisting of related events, journey instances, or journey models. In theillustrated embodiments of FIGS. 39A, 39B, 40A, 40B, and 41 the journeysummarization corresponds to a visualization of one or more journeyinstances, clusters of journey instances, or one or more journey models3908, 3910, 4002, 4006, and 4102, respectively. For simplicity,reference will be made to journey visualizations 3908, 3910, 4002, 4006,and 4102. In the illustrated embodiments of FIG. 42 , the journeysummarization corresponds to a listing of journey instances.

In the illustrated embodiments of FIGS. 39A, 39B, 40A, 40B, 41, and 42 ,the user interface 3900 includes a display area 3902, summarizationselection objects 3904A, 3904B, 3904C, and control selection objects3906A, 3906B, 3906C, 3906C, 3906D. In certain embodiments, the user cannavigate to the user interface 3900 by selecting the Explore displayobject 3814, illustrated in FIG. 38 . However, it will be understoodthat a user can navigate to the user interface 3900 using a variety ofmethods.

The summarization selection objects 3904A, 3904B, 3904C can be used toselect a visualization for the summarization. Although only threesummarization selection objects are shown, it will be understood thatfewer or more summarization selection objects can be used to providedifferent visualizations for the summarization.

In certain embodiments, selection of the list summarization selectionobject 3904A can result in the display of one or more lists of events,journey instances, or journey models. In some embodiments, selection ofthe flow chart summarization selection object 3904B, can result in thedisplay of one or more flow charts corresponding to one or more relatedevents, journey instances, or journey models. Furthermore, in somecases, selection of the metrics summarization selection object 3904C canresult in the display of a summarization that includes one or moremetrics associated with the journey instances, events, or journey modelsgenerated by the data intake and query system 108, such as but notlimited to a completion rate (number of percentage of journey instancesor models that started with a particular step instance or step and endedwith a particular step instance or step), time to completion (averagetime of the journey instances that were completed, average time for alljourney instance, or a subset, etc.), or other analytics describedherein. Accordingly, the summarization selection objects 3904A-3904C canbe used to select various summarizations to aid a user in visualizingthe journey instances or journey models generated from the eventsanalyzed by the data intake and query system 108.

With reference to the illustrated embodiments of FIGS. 39A, 39B, 40A,40B, and 41 , the flowchart summarization selection object 3904B isselected, which results in the display of the journey visualizations3908, 3910, 4002, 4006, 4102, respectively, in the display area 3902. Inthe illustrated embodiment of FIG. 42 , the list summarization selectionobject 3904A is selected, which results in the display of a listing ofthe journey instances in the display area 3902.

4.6.1 Control Selection

The control selection objects 3906A-3906D can be used to selectdifferent controls for display in the summarization control area 3912.The displayed controls can be used to modify the summarization displayedin the display area 3902. Although only four control selection objectsare shown, it will be understood that fewer or more control selectionobjects can be used to provide additional controls or to further modifythe visualizations for the summarization.

In some embodiments, selection of the list steps control object 3906Acan result in the summarization control area 3912 displaying the stepsidentified in one or more journey instances or one or more journeymodels. In certain embodiments, selection of the filter control object3906B can result in the summarization control area 3912 displaying oneor more controls that enable a user to set certain filters on thejourney instances used to generate one or more journey models. In somecases, selection of the clustering control object 3906C can result inthe summarization control area 3912 displaying one or more controls thatenable a user to view journey models formed from similar journeyinstances, such as journey instances that include the same steps and/orthe same order of steps, etc., or to view clusters of journey instances.In certain cases, selection of the settings control object 3906D canresult in the summarization control area 3912 displaying one or morecontrols that enable a user to modify one or more settings of thejourney instances, journey models, or data sources, whose events areused to generate the journey instances and models.

Using the controls displayed in the summarization control area 3912, auser can manipulate the view of the various journey instances generatedby the data intake and query system 108. Further, based on theparticular settings or controls selected from the summarization controlarea 3912, the data intake and query system 108 can generate and displayone or more journey visualizations based on the journey instances thatsatisfy the conditions selected by the controls in the summarizationcontrol area 3912.

4.6.2 Journey Model Visualization

In the illustrated embodiment of FIGS. 39A and 39B, a list steps controlobject 3906A is selected, which results in the summarization controlarea 3912 displaying steps identified in the journey instances thatcorrespond to the journey visualizations 3908, 3910 displayed in thedisplay area 3902. In addition, the summarization control area 3912enables the user to select or deselect certain steps. Based on theselected steps, the data intake and query system can generate a journeyvisualization 3908 that corresponds to journey instances or one or morejourney models that include the selected steps. In some cases, the dataintake and query system 108 can exclude any journey instances thatinclude a deselected step from being used to generate the journeyvisualization.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 39A, all displayed steps (e.g.,addtocart, changequantity, purchase, remove, view) are selected. As aresult, the journey visualization 3908 corresponds to the journeyinstances or journey model(s) that include any one of the displayedsteps. However, it will be understood that that the system 108 cangenerate the journey visualization 3908 in a variety of ways. Forexample, in some embodiments, the system 108 can generate the journeyvisualization 3908 using only the journey instances or journey model(s)that include each and every step identified in the summarization controlarea 3912, etc.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 39B, some of the displayed steps(addtocart, purchase, remove) are deselected. As a result, the journeyvisualization 3910 corresponds to journey instances or journey model(s)that include any one of the selected steps. As mentioned, in someembodiments, the system 108 excludes any journey instances or model(s)that include a deselected step from being used to generate the journeyvisualization 3910, even if the journey instance or model includes oneor more of the selected steps. However, it will be understood that thatthe system 108 can generate the journey visualization 3908 in a varietyof ways. For example, in some embodiments, the system 108 can generatethe journey visualization 3908 using the journey instances or model(s)that include any one of the steps selected from the summarizationcontrol area 3912, etc.

In addition to the steps of the journey instances, the journeyvisualizations 3908, 3910 can include start/end nodes. The start/endnodes may or may not correspond to one or more step instances of ajourney instance or steps of a journey model. In certain embodiments,the system 108 can use the start/end nodes to indicate which steps orstep instances are first or last in a journey model or journey instance,respectively. For example, arrows from the start node can indicate whichstep or step instances is the first step or step instance of a journeymodel or journey instances, respectively (e.g., node corresponding to astep or step instance pointed to from the start node). Similarly, arrowsto the end node can indicate which step or step instance is the laststep or step instance of a journey model or journey instances,respectively (e.g., nodes corresponding to a step or step instance fromwhich an arrow that points to the end node originate).

In the illustrated embodiments of FIGS. 39A and 39B, the journeyvisualizations 3908, 3910 are shown as a semi-circle or ring with thestep nodes of the journey visualization being spaced along the arc ofthe semi-circle. In this way, the system 108 can make it easier toobserve the various paths between the step nodes. In some cases, thesystem 108 can generate the visualization such that the step nodes areequally spaced along the arc of the semi-circle. In such embodiments, ifadditional step nodes are to be displayed, the system 108 canautomatically arrange the step nodes along the arc. In some embodiments,the step node closest to the start node corresponds to the step that ismost frequently identified as the first step or step instance of ajourney model or journey instance, respectively. In certain embodiments,the step node closest to the start node corresponds to the step that isidentified for being displayed in that location. Although, illustratedas a semi-circle or ring, it will be understood that the journeyvisualizations 3908, 3910 can be displayed in a variety of formats, suchas a full circle, line, triangle, square, rectangle, or other shape,etc. In various implementations, the journey instances or model(s) mayhave their steps (or step instances) ordered by time, as previouslydiscussed. In such implementations, the journey visualizations 3908,3910, may roughly flow from an origin point to an ending point (e.g.,top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top with top/bottom being earliest in timeand bottom/top being latest in time, left-to-right or right-to-left withleft/right being earliest in time and right/left being latest in time),however even within such an exemplary visualization, some steps may notfollow that strict placement, e.g., to improve readability.

In some embodiments, individual steps that appear in more journeyinstances relative to other steps may appear along a first arc and stepsthat appear in fewer journey instances relative to other steps mayappear along a second arc. In some embodiments the first or second arccan be closer to a “center” of the semi-circle, such that distance fromthe center in the visualization may roughly correspond to frequency ofappearance of that step in the various journey instances. Those skilledin the art will appreciate that other, similar adaptations to thevisualizations are also contemplated here. For example, more than threearcs can be used or different lines can be used. As another example, thesystem can use highlights, colorization, or patterns to indicate thefrequency with which steps appear in step instances, etc.

With continued reference to the journey visualizations 3908, 3910,various relationships between the steps in the journey model or stepsinstances in the journey instances can be identified. For example,journey visualizations 3908, 3910 can include edges (e.g., lines,arrows, etc.) between different step nodes. The edges can indicate thetraversal from one step to another step and/or identify which steppreceded another step in a journey model (or step instances in a journeyinstance). In some embodiments, the system 108 can determine thetraversal from one step or step instance to another step or stepinstance based on a timestamp associated with an event that correspondsto a step or step instance. For example, the system 108 can determinethat a journey instance traversed from a purchase step instance to aview step instance based on a timestamp associated with an event thatcorresponds to the purchase step instance that immediately precedes(relative to any other steps in the journey instance) a timestampassociated with an event that corresponds to the view step instance. Asshown in the illustrated embodiment of journey visualization 3908, insome instances a step node can be immediately preceded by the same typeof step node, or steps may be repeatedly traversed as part of a journeymodel or instance.

In addition, characteristics of the edges of a journey visualization canindicate the frequency of a particular traversal or progression. Forexample, if a majority of journey instances indicate a traversal orprogression from the addtocart step to the purchase step, and a minorityof journey instances indicate a traversal from the addtocart step to theremove step, the journey visualization can indicate this relationship bymaking an arrow from the addtocart step node to the purchase step nodemore pronounced than an arrow from the addtocart step node to the removestep node. In some cases, the more pronounced edge can be thicker,darker, or have a different pattern (e.g., solid vs. dashed) or colorthan a less pronounced edge. As such, more pronounced edges betweensteps nodes can indicate a greater frequency of a particular traversalthan less pronounced edges between step nodes.

It will be understood that the edges can be configured to conveyinformation as desired. For example, less pronounced edges can indicatethat a particular traversal is more common, etc. Accordingly, thejourney visualization 3908 can communicate significant amounts ofinformation to a user about the underlying events, data sources, andcomputing systems, including, but not limited to, the step instances ofjourney instances, steps of a journey model, order of steps/stepinstances, frequency of traversals between steps/step instances,starting steps/step instances and ending steps/step instances, etc. Inother implementations, not shown here, numeric representations ofinformation regarding the underlying events, e.g., the frequency oftraversals between steps/step instances, may be shown within or inproximity to the various steps/step instances. In still otherimplementations, those numeric representations may be hidden until someinteraction with the step node in the visualization, e.g., selection ofthat step node or zooming in on that step node.

It will be understood that the journey visualization can be displayed ina variety of ways. In some cases, more common steps can be shown as partof a first ring and less common steps can be shown as part of a secondring, such as an outer or inner ring relative to the first ring. In thisway, the system 108 can communicate to a user a relationship between thevarious steps of the journey model. For example, the system 108 canidentify steps that are found within a threshold number or percentage ofjourney instances as part of a first ring and identify steps that arenot found within a threshold number or percentage of journey instancesas part of a second ring. In some cases, the threshold number can varydepending on the total number of journey instances. In certainembodiments, the threshold number can depend on a percentile. Forexample, steps found in at least 30% of the journey instances can formpart of a first ring and steps found in less than less than 30% of thejourney instances can form part of a second ring. Additional rings canbe used as desired.

In certain embodiments, sub-journeys or nested journeys can be displayedas part of a second ring. For example, if the step changequantityinitiates a number of sub-processes or steps (also referred to asdependent steps), then the dependent steps can be shown as a loop nextto the changequantity step. In this way, the journey visualization 3908can indicate to a user steps related to nested journeys, etc. In somecases, the journey visualization can hide or group dependent stepstogether until a user interacts with the parent step (e.g., step thatlead to or relates to the nested journey). With reference to the exampleabove, based on an interaction of the user with the changequantity stepnode, the journey visualization can display step nodes corresponding tothe dependent steps related to the changequantity step.

In some embodiments, the user interface 3900 can enable a user to movethe steps of the journey visualization 3908 in order to more readilyview relationships. For example, it may be difficult to see which stepsprecede other steps, but by moving a step, the connections thereto fromdifferent steps may become more visible.

4.6.3 Clusters of Journey Instances

With reference to FIGS. 40A and 40B, a cluster control object 3906C isselected, which results in the summarization control area 3912displaying information regarding various clusters of journey instances,and enabling a user to select the clusters as a journey visualization.

The clusters can correspond to one or more journey instances thatinclude a particular grouping of steps and/or a particular order ofsteps. For example, some journey instances may include traversal throughmultiple steps, whereas other journey instances may include traversalthrough only one step. The data intake and query system 108 can analyzethe identified journey instances to determine how many or whatpercentage of journey instances are similar. The data intake and querysystem 108 can group or cluster the similar journey instances togetherand provide information about the clusters to a user.

In the illustrated embodiments of FIGS. 40A and 40B, the data intake andquery system 108 has identified multiple clusters of journey instances.Information about five of the identified clusters is displayed in thesummarization control area 3912. The displayed information about theclusters 4004A-4004E can include an identification of the differentclusters, analytics about the different clusters, and/or an indicationof the steps included in the different clusters, etc.

In the illustrated embodiments of FIG. 40A, 40B, the displayedinformation about a first cluster 4004A indicates that the journeyinstances in that cluster make up 9% of the journey instances generatedfrom the set of data, and further indicates that the first clusterincludes a single step. Accordingly, the journey instances that formpart of the first cluster include a step instance corresponding to thesame step.

The displayed information about the third cluster 4004C indicates thatthe journey instances in the third cluster make up 4% of the journeyinstances generated from the set of data. The displayed information4004C further indicates the steps identified in the journey instances ofthe third cluster, as well as an order of the steps. In someembodiments, the order of steps indicates the order of steps for alljourney instances of the third cluster. In certain embodiments, theorder of steps indicates a common or most common order of step instancesfor journey instances of the third cluster. Accordingly, in someembodiments, the journey instances that form part of the third clusterinclude step instances of the same steps, as well as the same order ofsteps. In certain embodiments, the journey instances that form part ofthe third cluster include the step instances of the same steps, but notnecessarily the same order of steps.

In some embodiments, to indicate the steps and/or order of steps forjourney instances of a particular cluster, the summarization controlarea 3912 can include an indicator, such as a graphic, name, etc., foreach step. In certain cases, each distinct step can be uniquelyidentified, such as by color, shading, pattern, word, etc. Thus, bylooking at the summarization control area 3912, a user can identifywhich steps are found in the journey instances of a particular cluster,and in some cases, the order of those steps. In the illustratedembodiment of FIG. 40A, the summarization control area 3912 includes adistinct box for each step. Further, the box is patterned after the boxused for the step nodes in the journey visualization 4002.

Similarly, displayed information 4004B, 4004D, 4004E is included for thesecond, fourth, and fifth clusters, indicating a percentage of thejourney instances that make the respective cluster and identifying atleast the steps found in each cluster. It will be understood that thedisplayed information 4004A-4004E can include less or more informationabout the clusters. For example, the displayed information 4004A-4004Ecan indicate a total number of journey instances in each cluster,display information about each and every cluster, etc.

As mentioned, the user interface 3900 enables the user to select acluster in order to display a journey model associated with the cluster.In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 40A, the display information 4004Acorresponding to the first cluster has been selected. In response, theuser interface displays a journey visualization 4002 that corresponds tothe selected cluster. In some embodiments, the data intake and querysystem 108 generates a journey model based on the selection of acluster. In certain cases, the data intake and query system 108 cangenerate the journey model by combining the journey instances that formthe cluster. As illustrated, the journey visualization 4002 includes asingle step node “view.” As such, a single arrow goes to the “view” stepnode from the start node and a single arrow goes to the end node fromthe “view” step node.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 40B, the display information 4004Dwhich corresponds to the fourth cluster is selected. In response, thesystem 108 aggregates the information about the clusters correspondingto display information 4004A-4004D and displays a journey visualizationbased on the aggregate information. For example, the journeyvisualization 4006 can demonstrate the various paths found in 21% (sumof journey instances of the first four clusters) of the journeyinstances generated from the set of data.

With reference to the illustrated embodiment, 9% of the journeyinstances include a “view” step instance, 5% of the journey instancesinclude an “addtocart” step instance, 4% of the journey instancesinclude “addtocart,” “purchase,” “purchase” step instances (in thatorder), and 3% include “addtocart,” “purchase,” step instances (in thatorder). Based on the selection of the display information 4004D, thesystem 108 generate and displays the journey visualization 4006 thatshows the paths for the journey instances of the different clusters.

Further, as “addtocart” is the most frequent first step of the combinedclusters (e.g., it makes up the first step in 12% of the journeyinstances or >50% of the selected journey instances), the system 108includes an indication that “addtocart” is the most frequent first stepusing a solid line, whereas a dashed line to the “view” step node isused to indicate that the “view” step occurs less frequently as thefirst step. Similarly, the journey visualization 4006 uses differentweights or patterns to indicate the frequency of transitions between thesteps corresponding to the step nodes (other indications of frequencycan be used as desired). As mentioned herein, in some cases, the journeyvisualization 4006 can include multiple arcs or paths and include morefrequent steps on a first arc or path and less frequent steps on asecond arc or path.

In some embodiments, the system 108 can use the clusters or selectedclusters to generate one or more journey models (ordered or unordered).For example, the journey visualization 4006 can correspond to anunordered journey model that includes the steps “view,” “addtocart,” and“purchase.” Thus, the journey visualization can illustrate the variouspaths that journey instances take through the steps of the unorderedjourney model.

In certain embodiments, the journey visualization 4006 can illustratemultiple ordered journey models. For example, the system can generateone journey model based on the first cluster of journey instances(ordered journey model with the sequence “view”), a second journey modelbased on the second cluster of journey instances (ordered journey modelwith the sequence “addtocart”), a third journey model based on the thirdcluster of journey instances (ordered journey model with the sequence ofsteps “addtocart,” “purchase,” “purchase”), and a fourth journey modelbased on the fourth cluster of journey instances (ordered journey modelwith the sequence of steps “addtocart,” “purchase”). Thus, the journeyvisualization 4006 can illustrate the various paths of four journeymodels.

4.6.4 Filtering Journey Instances

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 41 , a filter control object 3906Bis selected, which results in the summarization control area 3912displaying various filter controls 4104A, 4104B, 4104C that enable auser to filter journey instances or models used to generate the journeyvisualization 4102. Although only three filter controls are shown, itwill be understood that fewer or more filter controls can be included asdesired.

The filter controls 4104A-4104C can be implemented as fields, drop-downmenus, check boxes, etc., as desired. In the illustrated embodiment, thefilter controls 4104A, 4104C are implemented as fields and the filtercontrol 4104B is implemented as a drop-down menu.

The filter controls 4104A, 4104C can be used to identify one or moresteps used to filter the journey instances or models. For example, inthe illustrated embodiment of FIG. 41 , the user has entered “view” and“purchase” to indicate that the journey instances or models are to befiltered based on some relationship between the view step and purchasestep. In some embodiments, as a user types in the filter controls 4104A,4104C, the data intake and query system can provide a list of the stepsthat can be selected. For example, as the user types “view,” the userinterface 3900 can display “purchase,” “addtocart,” “view,”“changequantity,” and “remove,” to enable a user to identify the stepsassociated with the events/journey model.

The filter control 4104B can be used to identify the type ofrelationship between the selected steps that is to be used to filter thejourney instances. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 41 , the userhas selected the relationship “eventually followed by,” to indicate thatthe journey instances that include a “view” step instance (or journeymodels with a “view” step) that is eventually followed by (e.g.,intervening steps are ok) a “purchase” step instance (or journey modelswith a “view” step) are to be used to generate the journey visualization4102. It will be understood that additional or different controls can beused to identify a relationship between the steps identified in filtercontrols 4104A, 4104C. For example, the identified relationship caninclude, but is not limited to, “immediately followed by” or“immediately preceded by” indicating that a particular step is toimmediately follow or precede another step with no intervening steps,“ends with” or “start with” indicating that a journey instance is to endor begin with a particular step, respectively, or “passes through”indicating that a journey instance is to include a particular stepand/or the particular step is not to be found at the beginning or end ofthe journey instance. In some embodiments, the data intake and querysystem can filter out journey instances that do not satisfy therequirements of the filter controls 4104A-4104C. Additionally, multiplefilters, or multi-step filters, although not pictured in thevisualization of FIG. 41 , can be used. For example, the filters couldinclude a particular sequence of three or more steps/step instances,transition between steps/step instances within a threshold amount oftime, etc. As such, the journey model and corresponding visualization4102 can be formed from a subset of the total journey instancesgenerated by the data intake and query system 108 from the set of data.

4.6.5 List Display of Journey Instances

Similar to FIG. 41 , in the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 42 , thefilter control object 3906B is selected, which results in thesummarization control area 3912 displaying various controls 4104A,4104B, 4104C that enable a user to filter journey instances or journeymodels. As described in greater detail above with reference to FIG. 41 ,the filter controls 4104A-4104C can be used to filter journey instancesfor the display area 3902 and journey model.

However, differing from FIG. 41 , in the illustrated embodiment of FIG.42 , the list summarization selection object 3904A is selected, whichresults in the display area 3912 displaying a listing of informationrelated to journey instances that can be used to generate one or morejourney models.

In the illustrated embodiment, the listing includes a pivot ID column4202, start time column 4204, end time column 4206, total durationcolumn 4208, event count column 4210, and a sequence column 4212, aswell as journey instance rows 4214A-4214H (generically referred to asjourney instance row 4214) for each journey instance. It will beunderstood that the information displayed can include fewer, more, ordifferent information, as desired. For example, the informationdisplayed can include, but is not limited to, an identification ofsimilar journey instances or clusters of journey instances, etc.

The pivot ID column 4202 can identify the field value of the pivot IDfield used to identify the journey instances. With reference to FIGS.37A and 37B, it will be noted that some of the field values displayed inthe pivot ID column 4202 correspond to some of the field valuesdisplayed in the field value preview section 3706 of FIGS. 37A and 37B.Further, as shown, each row in the pivot ID column 4202 includes aunique value. As discussed previously, the field values can be used toidentify related events. In some embodiments, such as when multiple datasources are used, the pivot ID column 4202 can include the combinationof field values from the different data sources used to generate aparticular journey instance. In certain embodiments, when multiple datasources are used, multiple pivot ID columns 4202 can be included, witheach column displaying a pivot ID associated with the particular journeyinstance.

The start time field 4204, end time column 4206, and total duration4208, can indicate the start time, end time, and total duration,respectively, of a particular journey instance. The event count column4210 can indicate the total number of events or step instances in ajourney instance or total number of unique events or step instances in ajourney instance. As mentioned, in some cases, some steps may berepeated in a journey instance (e.g., multiple step instancescorresponding to the same step). Thus, the total number of events orstep instances in a journey instance may be different from the totalnumber of unique events or steps in a journey instance.

The sequence column 4212 can indicate a particular sequence of a journeyinstance. For example, the sequence column 4212 can identify the firstand last steps or step instances of a journey instance, as well as thesequence of steps between the first and last steps. In some embodiments,each step can be uniquely identified, such as by, using a differentcolor or pattern. For example, with reference to the steps identified onFIG. 39A, the “addtocart” step can be colored yellow, the “purchase”step can be colored maroon, the “view” step can be colored orange, the“changequantity” step can be colored gray. In such embodiments, thesequence column 4212 can use the unique identification of the steps toindicate the particular sequence between steps of a particular journeyinstance. For example, with reference to journey instance row 4214A, thesequence column can include an orange block, yellow block, and maroonblock indicating that the sequence for the three events/steps in thatjourney instance was “view,” “addtocart,” and “purchase.” Furthermore,in some embodiments, the sequence column 4212 can indicate whethercertain steps are repeated within a particular journey instance, asillustrated in journey instance row 4214E.

It will be understood that a variety of user interfaces can be used todisplay journey visualizations in a myriad of ways. For example, it willbe understood that any one of the user interfaces described above withreference to FIGS. 18 and 31-26 can be used to display the journeyinstances, clusters of journey instances, nested journey instances, orjourney models generated by the data intake and query system 108.

4.7 Journey Instance and Model Flows

FIG. 43 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a routine 4300implemented by one or more computing devices in a networked computerenvironment 100 for enabling identification of one or more pivotidentifiers and/or one or more step identifiers. For example, theroutine 4300 can be implemented by a client device 102, host device 104,and/or any one, or any combination, of the components of the data intakeand query system 108. However, for simplicity, reference below is madeto the system 108 performing the various steps of the routine 4300.

At block 4302, the system executes a query. The query can include onemore commands or filters to identify a set of data, which can includeevents. For example, the query can identify one or more time constraintsor time ranges, one or more data sources, one or more fields or fieldvalues, etc. Based on the filters or commands in the query, the systemcan identify events that satisfy the filters or commands. For example,if the query identifies one or more data sources, the system canidentify a set of data from the one or more data source and/or excludedata or events from data sources not identified by the query. Similarly,the system can, using the query, identify a set of data that satisfiesone or more time constraints or ranges, or identify events with aparticular field or field value. In some embodiments, the system canreceive the query via one or more user interfaces. In certainembodiments, the query is in search processing language, or can begenerated based on a selection of one or more icons in a user interface.In some embodiments the query can be based on a data stream identifiedby user. The data stream can include events from one or more datasources, etc.

As described herein, the events of the set of data can include rawmachine data associated with a timestamp. In some embodiments, theevents can be derived from or based on machine data and be associatedwith heterogeneous data source having heterogeneous formats. In certainembodiments, the events can include performance information for metricsinformation.

At block 4304, the system obtains or extracts fields. The fields can beobtained or extracted based on the set of data or the events in the setof data identified from the query. In some embodiments, the obtainedfields can correspond to fields in the events or to fields associatedwith the events. For example, in some cases, the events themselves maynot include fields or field identifiers. As a non-limiting example, theevents may only include data and/or a timestamp or only include rawmachine data associated with a timestamp. Accordingly, in someembodiments, fields related to the events can be obtained or extractedfrom one or more files associated with the events, such as one or moreconfiguration files.

As described herein, the configuration files can relate to one or moredata sources and identify field definitions for events associated withthose data sources. For example, data coming from a particular sourcemay have a particular format (and data from different source may havedifferent heterogeneous formats), and field definitions in theconfiguration files, can identify how to extract field values fordifferent fields from the data of a particular data source. Accordingly,based on an identification of the data sources associated with the setof data, the system can identify one or more configuration files. Thesystem can then parse the configuration files to identify fielddefinitions and field identifiers for fields associated with the set ofdata. In some cases, the system can identify the data sources associatedwith the set of data based on input received from a user or based on ananalysis of the events and/or inverted or keyword indexes associatedwith the set of data.

Although described above with reference to using configuration files toobtain fields associated with the set of data, it will be understoodthat the system can identify the fields in a variety of ways. Forexample, the system can use a lookup table that relates events of a setof data to fields associated with the events or set of data. In somecases, the events or set of data can include the fields and the systemcan obtain the fields from the events or the set of data itself, etc.

At block 4306, the system populates a graphical user interface. Asdescribed herein, the system can generate and cause the display of agraphical user interface for a user. Some non-limiting examples ofgraphical user interfaces that can be generated are described hereinwith reference to FIGS. 37A and 37B. As described herein, the userinterface can include various sections. For example, the user interfacecan include a data source section, a field identifier section, a previewfield value section, etc.

In certain embodiments, the data source section of the user interfacecan include identifiers for data source(s) and/or stream(s) associatedwith the set of data or events. In some cases, the system interface canenable a user to add new data sources or data streams. Further, incertain cases, upon selection of a particular data source or stream, theuser interface can update the field identifier section to identifyfields associated with data from the selected data source, etc. [06.12]In some embodiments, a field identifier section of the user interfacecan include field identifiers that correspond to the fields associatedwith the set of data. As described herein, the field identifiers can beassociated with the data sources related to the set of data. Further,the user interface can include one or more interface objects to enablethe selection of the field identifiers by a user. For example, the userinterface can include checkboxes, drop down menus, fillable fields, etc.

In some embodiments, the preview field value section of the userinterface can identify field values associated with one or more of thefield identifier in the field identifier section. In some cases, theuser interface can include field values corresponding to a fieldidentifier selected from the field identifier section. In certainembodiments, the preview field value section can also include a countfor each field value displayed therein indicating the number of eventsthat include the respective field value.

The system can identify the field values for the preview field valuesection in a variety of ways. In some embodiments, the system canidentify the field values based on an analysis of the set of data. Forexample, the system can parse events in the set of data to identifyfield values found therein. In some embodiments, the system can analyzea subset of the set of data or a subset of the events and identify thefield values found in the subset of data or events. As the systemanalyzes the set of data or events, it can update the preview fieldvalue section with additional field values or updated counts, etc.

In certain embodiments the system can identify the field values based onone or more inverted or keyword indexes associated with the set of dataor events. As discussed in greater detail herein, the system can includeone or more inverted or keyword indexes that identify field-value pairsfor data and/or events processed or stored by the system. Specifically,the inverted or keyword indexes can identify particular fields for thedata and/or events, as well as field values in the data and/or eventsthat correspond to the fields. The inverted or keyword indexes can alsoidentify which events have a particular field-value pair.

Accordingly, using the identification of the events from the set ofdata, the system can analyze one or more inverted or keyword indexesthat includes information about the events from the set of data toidentify field values for the preview field value section. Specifically,the system can identify the inverted or keyword indexes that includefield-value pair entries that identify the events of the set of data.For each event identified as part of a field-value pair entry, thesystem can ascertain the field value for the event from the field-valuepair of the field-value pair entry. The identified field values can thenbe added to the preview field value section of the user interface.

Furthermore, in some cases, the system can use the inverted or keywordindexes to execute the query. As such, during the execution of thequery, the system can identify the inverted or keyword indexes used toexecute the query and refer back to them to identify the field valuesfor the preview field value section.

The user interface can include additional graphical indicators asdesired. In some cases, the user interface can indicate the number offields identified as a pivot identifier, step identifier, attribute,etc. Further, the user interface can provide graphical indicators thatenable a user to enter a query or one or more commands for the query,etc.

At block 4308, the system enables identification of one or more pivotidentifiers and one or more step identifiers. For example, via the userinterface, the system can enable a user to identify one or more pivotidentifiers and/or one or more step identifiers used to process the setof data or events.

As described herein, the pivot identifiers can be used to relatedifferent events or generate or build sets of events. In some cases, oneor more events are related based on a pivot identifier to form at leastpart of a journey instance. In some cases, the system enablesidentification of one or more pivot identifiers based one or more dropdown menus, check boxes, fillable fields, etc. For example, the userinterface can enable a user to identify a particular field identifier(and its corresponding field) from the field identifier section as apivot identifier.

Further, in certain embodiments the system suggests certain fields aspossible field identifiers. In some cases, the system suggests fieldsbased on a name or identifier for that field, the frequency with whichit appears in the set of data, or the field values of a field. Forexample, the system can identify the fields associated with the set ofdata and identified names or field identifiers that have been used inthe past as a pivot identifier.

In certain cases, the system can determine that fields like “sessionID,”“userID,” or others that appear to indicate an identifier are frequentlyused as pivot identifiers. As such, the system can use fuzzy logic tosuggest fields with a name or identifier that is the same as or similarto fields used for pivot identifiers in the past, fields identified inthe system as ID fields, or fields identified in the system as usefulfields for identifying related events.

In some cases, the system can identify the top 10, 50, or 100, etc.field identifiers frequently used as a pivot identifier. The system canthen use fuzzy logic to compare the identified top field identifierswith the field identifiers associated with the set of data. Fieldidentifiers associated with the set of data that are similar to or matchthe top field identifiers can be suggested for use as a pivotidentifier. In some cases, the system can make suggestions based on theuser. For example, the system can identify the top 10, 50, or 100, etc.field identifiers typically selected by a particular user and suggest afield identifier associated with the set of data based on the identifiedtop field identifiers of the user as described above.

In some embodiments, the system can suggest a field identifier based onits frequency within the set of data. For example, the system canidentify the fields that are found in the most, least, or thresholdnumber events of the set of data and suggest those fields as pivotidentifiers.

In certain embodiments, the system can suggest field identifiers basedon the field values of the field. In some cases, if the systemdetermines that the number of unique field values for a particular fieldsatisfies a threshold number, then the system can recommend the field asa pivot identifier. For example, if the system determines that from aset of 1,000 events there are one hundred unique field values, then thesystem may recommend the field as a pivot ID. However, if the systemdetermines that there are 950 unique field values for the set of 1,000events, the system may determine not to suggest the field as a pivotidentifier. However, it will be understood that the threshold for thenumber of unique field values or whether to recommend fields based onthe fields being greater than or less then the threshold can be adjustedas desired.

In some embodiments, the system can determine the threshold based on apercentage of the events in the set of data. For example, the system candetermine that for every 5, 10, or 20 events there should be a uniquefield value (e.g., the number of unique field values divided by thetotal number of events should be 5%, 10%, or 20%). Fields that have aquantity of unique field values that are closer to the threshold ortarget can be given a higher ranking and be more likely to be suggestedby the system as potential pivot identifiers than fields that have aquantity of unique field values that are farther away from the thresholdor target.

Similarly, if the system determines that the number of events that havethe same field value satisfies a threshold, then the system canrecommend the field as a pivot identifier. For example, if one fieldvalue is found in 50% of the events, then the system may rate the fieldlower than for a set of events that has a field value in <1%, 2%, or 5%of the events. Accordingly, the system can use information about the setof data itself and/or the user to suggest pivot identifiers.

In certain embodiments, the system can rank fields based on one or morecriteria to determine which fields to suggest as pivot identifiers. Asdescribed above, the criteria can be based on any one or any combinationof field name or identifier, field frequency in the set of data, numberof unique field values, etc.

In certain embodiments, the step identifiers can be used to categorizethe different events or group sets of events into subsets of events. Forexample, the system can use the step identifiers to group events into aparticular step or step instance. In some cases, events similarlycategorized based on a step identifier can correspond to the same stepof a journey model, but may relate to different journey instances, e.g.,because one or more field values identified as pivot IDs are not thesame, or because other fields, field values, or other data is not thesame. In some cases, the system enables identification of one or morestep identifiers based one or more drop down menus, check boxes,fillable fields, etc. For example, the user interface can enable a userto identify a particular field identifier (and its corresponding field)from the field identifier section as a step identifier.

In some embodiments, the system can use all of the unique field valuesof the field that corresponds to the step identifier (or step ID field)as different steps. In certain embodiments, the system can enable a userto deselect one or more field values as steps. In such embodiments,events that include a deselected field value may not be included as partof journey models or instances even though they include a field valuefor the step ID field. In this way a user can identify the field valuesthat are relevant for grouping and categorizing the events.

Similar to the pivot identifiers, the system can suggest one or morestep identifiers. As discussed above, the system can suggest fields asstep identifiers based on field identifiers, number of unique fieldvalues, and/or number of events that have a particular field value.However, in some embodiments, the thresholds for suggesting fields asstep identifiers may be different than for suggesting fields as pivotidentifiers. In some cases, the threshold for number of unique fieldvalues may be higher than the threshold for the number of unique fieldvalues for a pivot ID field (or vice versa). Similarly, in certaincases, the threshold for the number of number of events with the samefield value for a step ID may be lower than the threshold for the numberof number of events with the same field value for a pivot ID (or viceversa). For example, it may be desirable to have fewer unique stepscompared to the number of unique journey instances (or vice versa).

Further, in some embodiments, the system can compare the number ofunique field values for the step ID field with the number of uniquefield values for the pivot ID field and make suggestions accordingly.For example, if the number of unique field values for the step ID fieldis greater than the number of unique values for the pivot ID field (orvice versa), the system can suggest that either the pivot ID or step IDbe changed. It will be understood that the system can use a variety oftechniques to suggest fields as pivot IDs, step IDs, and the like.

The system can use fewer, more, or different blocks as part of routine4300, or perform the blocks of routine 4300 in a different order orconcurrently. For example, in some embodiments, the system may notgenerate a graphical user interface. In such embodiments, a user cancommunicate selections of step identifier(s) or pivot identifier(s) viaemail, command line, etc. Further, any of the steps described hereinwith reference to routine 4300 can be combined with one or more stepsdescribed herein with reference to routines 4400 and 4500.

In certain embodiments, the user interface can enable a user to selectfields for attributes, enter a query, enter filters for the query, etc.In some embodiments, based on a selection of a field as an attribute,the system can track the field values for the identified field in eachevent and display commands for the user to filter, sort, or processjourney instances based on the attribute field.

In some embodiments, the system can use the identified pivotidentifier(s) and step identifier(s) to generate or build sets orsubsets of events, journey instances, clusters of journey instances,and/or journey models. For example, the system can use the pivotidentifiers to identify events that are part of a particular journeyinstance and use the step identifier(s) to group the events into subsetsof events or as step instances of the journey instance. As anotherexample, the system can use the step identifiers to identify steps of anunordered journey model, and use the pivot identifiers to identify anordered journey model.

Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the system can generatevisualizations based on the identified pivot identifier(s) and stepidentifier(s). For example, the system can build sets of events, subsetsof events, journey models, and/or journey instances, and displayvisualizations of them, as described in greater detail herein. Further,the visualizations can include indications of an ordering of,transitions between, or progression through, step instances of one ormore journey instances or steps of a journey model.

FIG. 44 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a routine 4400implemented by one or more computing devices in a networked computerenvironment 100 for generating a journey instance or model. For example,the routine 4400 can be implemented by a client device 102, host device104, and/or any one, or an combination, of the components of the dataintake and query system 108. However, for simplicity, reference below ismade to the system 108 performing the various steps of the routine 4400.

At block 4402, the system identifies a set of data, which can includeevents. As described herein the system can identify the set of databased on the execution of a query as described in greater detail aboveat least with reference to block 4302 of FIG. 43 .

At block 4404, the system receives one or more pivot identifiers. Asdescribed herein, in some embodiments, the system can receive one ormore pivot identifiers via a user interface. However, it will beunderstood that the system can receive the pivot identifier in a varietyof ways. The pivot identifier(s) can be used to relate, identify, orotherwise associate sets of events. As described herein, in some cases,the pivot identifier can correspond to a field associated with the setof data or events of the set of data. The system can use the field, orpivot ID field, to identify the sets of events. For example, the systemcan relate events with the same field value for the pivot ID field as aset of events.

In some embodiments, the system can identify a set of events based onmultiple pivot identifiers. In some cases, the set of events identifiedbased on multiple pivot identifiers can correspond to events frommultiple data sources. For example, the system can identify a firstgroup of events from a first data source that have a first field valuefor a first pivot ID field and the second group of events from seconddata source that have a second field value for the second pivot IDfield. Based on one or more gluing events that include the first fieldvalue and the second field value, the system can identify a relationshipbetween the first field value and the second field value. Based on theidentified relationship between the first field value and the secondfield value, the system can relate the first group of events and thesecond group of events as a set of events. In some embodiments, multiplegluing events in a particular data source can be used to relate eventsthat do not have a gluing event in common or are not otherwiserelatable. For example, a first gluing event can be used to relateevents in Group A and Group B and a second gluing event can be used torelate events in Group B and Group C. As such, events in Group A andGroup C can be related without a gluing event that links them directly.The different groups of events may correspond to events from the same,similar, or heterogeneous data sources.

In some cases, the one or more gluing events can be found in the firstgroup of events or the second group of events. Further, in someinstances, a gluing event may have the first field value in a locationcorresponding to the first field, and may have the second field value ina location that does not correspond to the second field (or may not havethe second field). Accordingly, in some instances, the system canperform a search on the event or consult a keyword entry of an invertedor keyword index to identify the second field value in the gluing event.

In certain cases, multiple pivot identifiers can be used to identify aset of events and a nested set of events that are interrelated. Forexample, the system can identify a first group of events that have afirst field value for a first pivot ID field and a second group ofevents that have a second field value for a second pivot ID field. Insome cases, events in the first group may also have the second fieldvalue for the second pivot ID field and/or events in the second groupmay also have the first field value for the first pivot ID field.Further, the events in the first group and the events in the secondgroup may be associated with the same data source.

In some cases, the events of the second group may occur as a result ofthe occurrence of an event in the first group. For example theoccurrence of a particular event may spawn one or more sub processesthat results in one or more events (also referred to as dependentevents), which can be identified using a separate pivot ID. Thedependent events may or may not include the same field value for thefirst pivot ID field, and may also share the same field value for adifferent pivot ID field.

Based on one or more gluing events that include the first field valueand the second field value, the system can identify relationship betweenthe first field value and second field value. Based on the identifiedrelationship, the system can relate the first group of events with thesecond group of events as a set of events. Further, based on anidentification of a relationship between the dependent events and theparent event, the system can determine that the second group of eventscorresponds to a nested set of events or a nested journey instance.

At block 4406, the system receives one or more step identifiers. Asdescribed herein, in some embodiments, the system can receive one ormore step identifiers via a user interface. However, it will beunderstood that the system can receive the step identifier in a varietyof ways.

The step identifier(s) can be used to categorize events as one or moresteps or step instances and/or group the sets of events as one or moresubsets of events. As described herein, in some cases, the stepidentifier can correspond to a field associated with the set of data orevents. The system can use the field to categorize the events and/orgroup events in a set of events into one or more subsets of events. Insome cases, the system can use the step identifier to identify a journeymodel or to identify steps of a journey model. In certain embodiments,the identified steps can form an unordered journey model. Further, insome cases, based on user input or based on one or more journeyinstances, the system can build an ordered journey model from theunordered journey model.

As described herein, in some cases, the field values of the step IDfield can be used to identify events as steps or step instances. In someembodiments, each unique field value of a step ID field can beidentified as a separate step. In certain embodiments, a subset of thefield values of the step ID field can be identified as separate steps.For example, a step ID field may have twenty unique field values, butthe system may use fewer than the twenty unique field values to identifydifferent steps or step instances. As described herein, in some cases,the system can exclude certain field values of the step ID field for useas steps based on input received from a user or based on an analysis ofthe field values of the step ID field.

As described herein, in certain embodiments, the system can use multiplestep identifiers to categorize events and/or group events in a set ofevents into subsets of events. For example, as described above withreference to pivot identifiers, multiple step identifiers can be used togroup sets of events that come from multiple data sources into subsetsof events. For example, in some cases, the system can receive a stepidentifier for each data source. In this way, the system can identify afield in events from each data source to categorize the events from thedata source. In certain embodiments, one step identifier can be used formultiple data sources. For example, fields from different data sourcesused to categorize the events into steps can have the same or a similarfield identifier. In such embodiments, the step identifier can identifythe common field between the different data sources as the step IDfield.

Further, similar to the pivot identifiers, the system can receivemultiple step identifiers for a particular data source. In suchembodiments, the system can use the step identifiers to identify eventsthat are part of a nested set of events or nested journey instance. Forexample, events that are part of a nested set of events can include adifferent field that can be used to categorize them apart from the fieldused to categorize other steps that are part of the set of events.Accordingly, using a first step ID field to categorize events in the setof events and a second step ID field to categorize events in the nestedset of events, the system can identify the events in a journey instance,as well as the events in a nested journey instance.

In some cases, the system can group multiple events together as part ofthe same step. Thus, a subset of the events of a journey instance caninclude one or more events. For example, if the system determines thatmultiple events are related to a “purchase” action, the system can groupthe events together as part of a “purchase” step. In some cases, thesystem can determine that multiple events are part of the same stepbased on the one or more pivot ID fields, step ID fields, or timestamps.For example, the multiple events related to the “purchase” step may allhave the “purchase” as the field value for the step ID field, may allhave a field value for the pivot ID field that matches the other eventsin the journey instance, and/or may all have iterative timestamps (e.g.,no other events of the set of events fall between the events related tothe “purchase” action). However, the events grouped together as part ofthe “purchase” step may have a field value for a second pivot ID fieldthat matches each other. In this way, the system can identify the eventsas part of the journey instance and also group them together as part ofa subset of steps or a single step.

Further, in some cases, the system can determine that a particular stephas not occurred until a certain events are observed. With reference tothe example above, the system can determine that a “purchase” action isnot complete until it receives three events with particular step IDs.Accordingly, the system can group the three events as a subset of eventsor a step instance.

At block 4408, the system identifies or builds a journey. The journeycan correspond to one or more journey instances and/or one or morejourney models. As described herein, the system can identify journeyinstances and journey models in a variety of ways.

In some cases, to identify a journey instance, the system identifies aset of events based on the one or more pivot identifiers, groups the setof events into one or more subsets of events based on the one or morestep identifiers, and orders the subset of events. In certain cases, thesystem identifies step instances or subsets of events from a set of databased on the one or more step identifiers, and then relates the stepinstances or subset of events based on the one or more pivotidentifiers. Accordingly, in certain embodiments, the pivotidentifier(s) are used to identify related events or set of events andthe step identifier(s) are used to categorize the related events intostep instances or subsets of events.

In addition, as described herein the subset of events or step instancescan be ordered based on a timestamp or other information associated withthe events. The system can order the events before, after, orconcurrently with identifying the related events or sets of data andidentifying the step instances or subsets of events.

In some cases, the set of events can be based on the step identifier.For example, if an event includes a field value for a pivot ID field,but does not include a step ID field, field value for a step ID field,or includes an excluded field value for the step ID field, the systemcan exclude the event from the set of events.

As described herein, in some embodiments, events in a journey instanceinclude a common field value or have the same field value for a fieldassociated with or identified by a pivot identifier. Furthermore, whenmultiple journey instances are generated, each journey instance cancorrespond to a unique field value for the pivot ID field.

In certain embodiments, such as when multiple pivot identifiers areused, events in a journey instance can include at least one field valuefrom a group of related field values. Each of the field values in thegroup of related field values can be associated with a different pivotidentifier. In some cases, the system can use one or more gluing eventsto identify and form the group of related field values.

As described herein, in some instances, multiple events may correspondto a subset of events or a single step instance. For example, multipleevents may be generated for a single action, such as a purchase. Thesystem can identify the events generated for the single action and groupthem together as a subset of events or a step instance. In someembodiments, these related events may correspond to a nested journeyinstance.

As mentioned above, the system can categorize an event as any one of aplurality of steps or a step instance. In some cases, the system candetermine the number of steps for a set of data based on a fieldassociated with a step identifier. In some cases, each unique fieldvalue for the field associated with the step identifier can beidentified as a step. In certain cases, as described herein, a subset ofthe unique field values of the step ID field can be identified as astep. Based on the field value for the step ID field in the event, thesystem can identify an event or subset of events as a particular stepinstance.

As discussed, as part of generating a journey instance, the system canidentify an ordering of the subset of events or step instances. In somecases, the ordering can be based on a timestamp associated with eachevent or step instance. For example, the step instance with theearliest-in-time timestamp can be identified as the first step instancein the journey instance and the step instance with the latest-in-timetime stamp can be identified as the last step instance in the journeyinstance, and so on. The ordered related events, ordered subset ofevents, or ordered steps instances can correspond to a journey instance.

Similarly, the system can identify a progression through the set ofevents, subset of events, or step instances based on the time stamp. Forexample, if a timestamp of Event1 is :33 and the timestamp of a Event2is :56, and there are no events in the set of events with a timestampbetween :33 and :56, the system can determine that the journey instanceprogressed from Event1 to Event2. However, if the timestamp of Event10is :45 (and no other events between :33 and :56), then the system candetermine that the journey instance progressed from Event1 to Event10 toEvent2.

In addition to journey instances, the system can also generate one ormore journey models. The journey models can include ordered journeymodels or unordered journey models. An ordered journey model cancorrespond to a certain number of steps in a particular order, and anunordered journey model can correspond to a certain number of stepswithout any particular order. Accordingly, in some embodiments a journeyinstance can be a representation or an example of an ordered orunordered journey model.

In some embodiments, the journey models can be built or generated basedone or more journey instances or one or more ordered subsets of events.For example, one or more journey instances that include the same stepsand the same order of steps can be combined to form an ordered journeymodel. Similarly journey instances that include the same steps but indifferent orders can be combined to form an unordered journey model.Furthermore, in some cases multiple journey instances with differentsteps and different orders of steps can be combined to form a journeymodel. For example, the system can identify steps for a journey modelbased on the different step instances used to form the journey model.The system can also identify journey instances that follow differentpaths through the steps of the journey model. The journey modelgenerated from the journey instances can show all of the different pathsthrough the identified steps of the journey model. In such embodiments,the various journey instances may have different steps and differentorders of those steps, however, each journey instance can traversethrough at least one step of the journey model.

In certain embodiments, a journey model can be built based on fieldvalues of one or more step ID fields. For example, the system canidentify one or more field values of a step ID field as steps of anunordered journey model. In some cases, the system can generate anordered journey model from the unordered model based on one or moretimestamps, one or more pivot identifiers, and/or one or more journeyinstances or sets of events.

The system can use fewer, more, or different blocks as part of routine4400, or perform the blocks of routine 4400 in a different order orconcurrently. For example, the routine 4400 can include a block betweenblocks 4404 and 4406 for generating or building a set of events and/orinclude a block between blocks 4406 and 4408 for grouping the set ofevents into one or more subset of events. Further, any of the stepsdescribed herein with reference to routine 4400 can be combined with oneor more steps described herein with reference to routines 4300 and 4500.

In some embodiments, as part of routine 4400, the system can identifyclusters of journey instances. Each cluster of journey instances cancorrespond to journey instances that follow the same path through thesame steps. In some embodiments, a cluster of journey instances cancorrespond to an ordered journey model.

In certain embodiments, the system can generate one or more journeyswithout the one or more step identifiers. For example, based on the oneor more pivot identifiers the system can identify related events, whichcan correspond to a journey instance. Further, in such embodiments, thesystem can order the events in the journey instance based on a timestampassociated with each event of the journey instance.

In some embodiments, the system can generate one or more journeyswithout the one or more pivot identifiers. For example, based on the oneor more step identifiers the system can categorize the events of the setof data, which can correspond to a journey model. Accordingly, based onthe one or more pivot identifiers, the system can identify the steps ofa journey model.

In certain embodiments, as part of routine 4400, the system can generateand display visualizations of the journeys. As mentioned, the journeyscan correspond to journey instances or journey models. Accordingly, thesystem can generate and display visualizations of one or more journeyinstances and/or one or more journey models. Furthermore, thevisualizations can identify progressions through the set of events,subset of events, journey instances, or journey models.

FIG. 45 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a routine 4500implemented by one or more computing devices in a networked computerenvironment 100 for analyzing journey instances. For example, theroutine 4500 can be implemented by a client device 102, host device 104,and/or any one, or any combination, of the components of the data intakeand query system 108. However, for simplicity, reference below is madeto the system 108 performing the various steps of the routine 4500.

At block 4502, the system accesses journey instances. As describedherein, in some embodiments, each journey instance can include one ormore step instances, and each step instance can correspond to one ormore events of a set of data. The step instances of the journeyinstances or subsets of events can be ordered. Further, the journeyinstances can be generated based on one or more pivot identifiers, oneor more step identifiers, and/or one or more timestamps. The journeyinstances can be stored in memory or on disk. In some embodiments, toaccess the journey instances, the system can access a file thatidentifies particular events of a journey instance and an order of thoseparticular events. In certain embodiments, this information can bestored in a relational database. In some embodiments, the file caninclude an identifier for each of the particular events. In this way,the system can reduce the memory required to store the journeyinstances.

Further, in certain embodiments, the events of a particular journeyinstance can correspond to events from one or more data sources. Thedata sources can be heterogeneous data sources that have heterogeneousdata formats. In some embodiments, a journey instance can include anested journey instance. For example, as described herein, theoccurrence of one event can spawn one or more sub processes thatgenerate one or more events. The dependent events can be related to eachother as part of a nested journey instance and can be related to alarger or primary journey instance.

At block 4504, the system analyzes the plurality of journey instances togenerate a summary. In some embodiments, the summary can correspond to asingle journey instance or multiple journey instances. In certainembodiments, the summary can correspond to one or more journey models orone or more clusters of journey instances.

The summary can include various analytics about the journey instances orjourney models. For example, as described herein, the summary canindicate the number of journey instances built from a set of data, thenumber of events in the set of data, the identity of steps in a journeymodel, a sequence of the step instances in the journey instances, asequence of steps in a cluster of journey instances or ordered journeymodel, a percentage of journey instances that represent or are anexample of different ordered or unordered journey models, an indicationof the frequency of steps across the different journey instances, anindication of the placement of the different steps across the differentjourney instances (e.g., first, last, etc.), time limits of the set ofdata, a distribution of the lengths of the journey instances or numberof events in the different journey instances, average time of thejourney instances, average time on each step of the journey instances,etc.

At block 4506, the system generates a visualization. In someembodiments, the visualization can correspond to one or more journeyinstances or one or more journey models. In some embodiments, thevisualization can correspond to multiple journey instances, or a clusterof journey instances, that include the same path through the same stepsor an ordered journey model. In such cases, the journey instances caninclude step instances that correspond to the same steps of a journeymodel and that have the same order as an ordered journey model.

In certain embodiments, the visualization can correspond to multiplejourney instances that have different paths through the same ordifferent steps. For example, the visualization can include all journeyinstances for a set of data or all different paths between steps of ajourney model based on the set of data. In some cases, one group of thejourney instances may include one set of steps from the journey modeland another group may include different steps, non-overlapping from thejourney model.

In some embodiments, the visualization can include a numerical ornon-numerical indication of the number or percentage of journeyinstances that include a particular order of step instances or include aparticular passage between two or more step instances, or a particularpassage to or from a particular step or step instance. In some cases,the visualization can include lines or arrows between different stepsthat are traversed by a journey instance. In some cases the errors orlines can be sized differently depending on the frequency or the numberof journey instances that include a particular passage between twosteps. For example, the visualization can include a larger or thickerarrow or line indicating a larger percentage or number of journeyinstances including a particular traversal compared to a smaller orthinner line or arrow. In some cases, the visualization can usedifferent colors to indicate the frequency or number of journeyinstances that include a particular traversal. In this way, thevisualization can facilitate the understanding of the topology of thesystem and/or the interactions between different data sources.

In some embodiments, the system can include information about eachjourney instance. For example, the visualization can identify fieldvalues for the different journey instances, or the field used as thepivot identifier. In certain cases, the visualization can identify aduration for each journey instance, a number of events in a particularjourney instance, and/or a sequence of events for a particular journeyinstance.

In certain embodiments, the visualization can include a summary of thejourney instances identified from a set of data, the number of eventsidentified from the set of data, the number of unique steps in the setof data, timing requirements used to generate the journey instances orprocess the set of data. In some embodiments the visualization caninclude one or more graphics indicating a distribution of the number ofevents in the journey instances.

In certain embodiments, a user interface can include various controls tomodify the visualization. For example, the controls can enable a user tofilter journey instances based on a particular step, a particular orderor sequence of steps, particular transition between steps, a particularfirst step, a particular last step, etc. Furthermore, in someembodiments, the user interface can include various controls to viewvisualizations of clusters of journey instances, journey models, orjourney instances with the same steps and same sequence of steps, etc.In some cases, the user interface can include controls to modify thevisualization to identify one or more journey models derived from orbuilt based on different journey instances.

In some embodiments, the visualization can include multiple nodes alongan arc, such as a circle, semi-circle, or half-moon. Some or all of thenodes can correspond to a step or step instance. In some embodiments,the nodes are ordered based on timestamps associated with thecorresponding step instance. For example, nodes corresponding to stepsthat are earliest in time for a journey instance or model can be closerto an origin point (e.g., top, bottom, side, etc.) and nodes later intime can be progressively closer to an end point and can be locatedalong an arc length between the origin point and end point. In certainembodiments, the steps are ordered based on frequency of transitions.For example, the first node can correspond to the node that is mostfrequently the first node in a journey, the second node can correspondto the step that is most frequently traversed to from the first node,and so forth. In addition, the visualization can include indicationsthat identify transitions between the different nodes of the arc. Insome implementations, the visualization may be manipulated by the user,to allow the user to move, position, zoom, and/or focus on elements ofthe visualization, e.g., nodes and paths. In some implementations, thevisualization may include numeric representations of data underlying thevisualization, e.g., corresponding to journey models, journey instances,or data underlying the respective journey instances, individually or inaggregate.

In some cases, the visualization can include multiple arcs. The firstarc can correspond to steps that occur at least a threshold number oftimes. The second arc can correspond to steps that occur less than athreshold number of times.

Further, in some embodiments, the first arc can correspond to steps of ajourney instance, and the second arc can correspond to steps of a nestedjourney instance. In some cases, the nodes of the second arc can bepositioned proximate the node that corresponds to the step of thejourney instance that is related to the nested journey instance. Forexample, if the nodes for the nested journey correspond to dependentevents, then they can be positioned proximate the node that caused themto occur.

The system can use fewer, more, or different blocks as part of routine4500, or perform the blocks of routine 4500 in a different order orconcurrently. Further, any of the steps described herein with referenceto routine 4500 can be combined with one or more steps described hereinwith reference to routines 4300 and 4400. For example, in someembodiments, the routine 4500 can include receiving one or more pivotidentifiers and/or one or more step identifiers, generating the journeyinstances and models, etc.

4.8 Additional Journey Visualizations

FIG. 46 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a journeyvisualization 4600 that can be displayed in the display area 3902 orotherwise included in the user interface 3900 or displayed. As describedherein, the system 108 can generate a variety of journey visualizationsto indicate relationships between events and topologies. Accordingly,the journey visualization 4600 represents an embodiment of the journeyvisualizations that can be generated by the system 108.

In the illustrated embodiment, the journey visualization 4600 indicatesa relationship between data sources and the events/steps/step instancesof one or more journey instances or one or more journey models. Forexample, the system 108 can group the events/steps/step instances basedon their data source and display a traversal through the steps acrossthe different data sources. In the illustrated embodiment, the journeyvisualization 4600 includes data source indicators 4602, 4604, 4606indicative of the data sources or streams associated with one or morejourney instances or journey models, nodes A, B, C, D, E indicative ofthe events, steps, or step instances associated with the one or morejourney instances or journey models, as well as a progression betweenthe events, steps, or step instances of the one or more journeyinstances or journey models.

As a non-limiting example, suppose journey visualization 4600 representsa particular journey instance, the nodes A, B, C, D, E represent thesteps instance of the journey instance, and the data source indicators4602, 4604, 4606 indicate the data sources related to the journeyinstance. With reference to the example, the journey visualization 4600indicates that the journey instance includes five step instances A, B,C, D, E across three data sources 4602, 4604, 4606. Further, the journeyvisualization 4600 indicates the progression through the step instancesbased on their placement, with step instances that occurred earlier intime being located higher in the journey visualization than stepinstances that occurred later in time. In the illustrated embodiment,the journey instance began with the step instance A, and progressedthrough step instances B, C, and D, and ended with step instance E. Itwill be understood that the step instances can be placed in anyconfiguration to indicate an order (e.g., bottom-top, left-right,right-left, font size, color, pattern, etc.)

In addition, the journey visualization 4600 identifies the data sourcesrelated to each event. Specifically, the journey visualization indicatesthat step instance A is related to or came from data source 4602, stepsB and D are related to data source 4604 and step instances C and E arerelated to data source 4606.

The journey visualization 4600 also includes indications of thetraversal of the journey instance between the different data sources. Inaddition, in the illustrated embodiment, the journey visualizationprovides one indicator for traversals in one direction of the datasources (e.g., data source 4602 data source 4604 and data source 4604data source 4606) and a different indicator for traversal in theopposite direction (e.g., data source 4606 4604, etc.).

Although the example identified was with reference to step instances anda journey instance, it will be understood that the journey visualization4600 can also be used to illustrate the relationship between events of ajourney instance or steps or events of one or more journey models, etc.In some embodiments, they journey visualization can indicate thetraversals between the events or steps for multiple journey models orjourney instances. For example, similar to the journey visualizations3908, 3910, 4006, and 4102, the journey visualization 4600 can includemultiple lines (same or different pattern) between the various nodes A,B, C, D, E. Further different patterns or weights of the lines canindicate different relationships (e.g., frequency or number oftransitions, etc.) between the underlying steps, step instance, orevents, as described herein.

FIG. 47 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a journeyvisualization 4700 that can be displayed in the display area 3902 andstep selection controls 4702 that can be displayed in the summarizationcontrol area 3912 of the user interface 3900, or otherwise included in auser interface or displayed. As described herein, the system 108 cangenerate a variety of journey visualizations to indicate relationshipsbetween events and topologies. Accordingly, the journey visualization4700 represents an embodiment of the journey visualizations that can begenerated by the system 108 to indicate a relationship between anevent/step/step instance with other events/steps/step instance of one ormore journey instances or models.

For simplicity, reference will be made to an indication of arelationship of an anchor step with other steps of a one or more orderedjourney models, however, it will be understood that, depending on theembodiment, step instances or events can be used instead of steps andthat journey instance(s) can be used in place of the journey models.With the above in mind, in the illustrated embodiment, the journeyvisualization 4700 includes various nodes indicative of steps associatedwith different ordered journey models. Further, the illustratedembodiment includes step selection control 4702 to select various stepsof an unordered journey model.

In the illustrated embodiment a step (step 5) corresponding to node 5has been selected as an anchor step. Based on the selection, the system108 generates the journey visualization 4700 to indicate therelationship between step 5 and the other steps of various orderedjourney models. To illustrate the relationship between step 5 and theother steps, the journey visualization 4700 includes columns 4704A,4704B, 4704C, 4704D, 4704E, with each column indicating a distance fromthe anchor step. In the illustrated embodiment, node 5, corresponding tostep 5, is placed in column 4704D. Thus, nodes in column 4704E indicatesteps that occur one step after step 5 in one or more journey models orafter step 5 with no intervening steps in that particular journey model.Nodes in column 4704C indicate steps that occur one step before step 5in one or more journey models or before step 5 with no intervening stepsin that particular journey model. Thus, nodes in column 4704B and 4704Aindicate steps that occur two and three steps, respectively before step5 in one or more journey models or before step 5 with one or twointervening steps, respectively, in that particular journey model.

By selecting steps 3 and 8, which correspond to nodes 3 and 8, inaddition to step 5, the system 108 can filter out journey models that donot include any of steps 3, 5, or 8, journey models that do not includesteps 3 and 5 or steps 3 and 8, or journey models that do not includesteps 3, 5, and 8. Accordingly, the journey visualization 4700 can showpaths of journey models that include different combinations of step 5with other steps, such as steps 3, and 8.

In the illustrated embodiment, the journey visualization 4700 shows thepaths of journey models that have steps 3 and 5 or that have steps 5 and8. Solid lines indicate paths between steps of ordered journey modelsthat include steps 8 and 5 (step 8 occurring three steps before step 5)and steps between ordered journey models that step 3 and step 5 (step 3occurring one step before step 5 for one or more journey models). Thus,as seen in the journey visualization 4700 at least two ordered journeymodels includes steps 3 and 5 and a step that precedes step 3 (e.g., thenodes in column 4704B that connect to node 3 indicate steps in differentordered journey models that also include steps 3 and 5). Similarly,journey models with steps 5 and 3 or steps 5 and 8 only include twodifferent paths after step 5 (e.g., the nodes in column 4704E indicatetwo steps that come after step five in any of the journey models).

The journey visualization 4700 can further indicate additional paths ofjourney models through step 5, but that do not include steps 3 or 8. Inthe illustrated embodiment, the journey visualization indicates theseadditional paths through step 5 using dashed lines and dashed circles.For example, at least three journey models include step 5, but does notinclude step 3 or 8 (e.g., the dashed node in column 4704C with a dashedline to node 5 and the blank dashed nodes in column 4704A with dashedlines to the solid node in column 4704B). In some embodiments, thedashed circle for node 8 can indicate that step 8 does not occur in thesame ordered journey models as step 3.

It will be understood that a variety of visualizations can be used toindicate the relationship between the steps of the journey models.Further, as indicated above, the visualization 4700 is not limited tosteps and journey models, but can indicate relationship between eventsof journey instances or journey models or relationships between stepinstances of journey instances.

FIG. 48 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a journeyvisualization 4800 that can be displayed in the display area 3902 andevent selection controls 4802 that can be displayed in the summarizationcontrol area 3912 of the user interface 3900, or otherwise included in auser interface or displayed. As described herein, the system 108 cangenerate a variety of journey visualizations to indicate relationshipsbetween events and topologies. Accordingly, the journey visualization4800 represents an embodiment of the journey visualizations that can begenerated by the system 108 to indicate a relationship between a parentevent/step/step instances and dependent events/steps/step instances.

For simplicity, reference will be made to an indication of arelationship of a parent event with dependent events of a journeyinstance, however, it will be understood that, depending on theembodiment, step instances or steps can be used instead of events andthat journey model(s) can be used in place of the journey instance. Withthe above in mind, in the illustrated embodiment, the journeyvisualization 4800 includes various nodes indicative of eventsassociated with a journey instance. Further, the illustrated embodimentincludes event selection control 4802 to select various events of anunordered journey model.

In the illustrated embodiment, an event (event 5) corresponding to node5 has been selected from a various events of a journey instance. Basedon the selection, the system 108 generates the journey visualization4800 to indicate the relationship between parent event 5 and dependentevents (from the same or different data sources as each other and theparent event) of the journey instance, or nested journey instances. Toillustrate the relationship between the parent event 5 and the dependentevents, the journey visualization 4800 includes rows 4804A, 4804B,4804C, 4804D, 4804E, with each row indicating a distance from orrelationship to the parent event, or indicating a distinct nestedjourney instance related to event 5.

In addition, the journey visualization indicates a timing relationshipbetween the various events, with nodes corresponding to events occurringearlier in time located farther to the left of nodes corresponding toevents occurring later in time (e.g., event related to node C occursapproximately 60 second before the event corresponding to node F).

In the illustrated embodiment, parent node 5, corresponding to parentevent 5, is placed in column 4804A. Connecting lines from node 5 tonodes A and B can indicate that events corresponding to events A and aregenerated based on the occurrence of event 5, or are dependent events.Similarly, the lines between nodes C and D and between nodes E and F canindicate that the events corresponding to nodes D and F are dependentevents (or occurred based on the occurrence of) of the eventscorresponding to nodes C and E, respectively. In some embodiments, allof the events corresponding to the nodes in the different rows 4804B,4804C, 4804D, 4804E can be identified as dependent events.

Furthermore, nodes in the different rows can correspond to differentnested journey instances that relate to the parent or primary journeyinstance. For example, nodes in row 4804B can indicate nodes in a firstnested journey instance, nodes in row 4804C can indicate nodes in asecond nested journey instance, nodes in row 4804D can indicate nodes ina third nested journey instance, and nodes in row 4804D can indicatenodes in a fourth nested journey instance. As such, the journeyvisualization 4800 can indicate that four nested journey instances arerelated to event 5.

As described herein, events of a nested journey instance can beidentified and/or categorized based one or more step identifiers and/orone or more pivot identifiers. For example, the events of the nestedjourney instance indicated by row 4804B can be related based on a firstpivot identifier or a common field value for a first pivot identifierfield. Similarly, the events of the nested journey instances indicatedby rows 4804C, 4804D, and 4804E can be related based on respective pivotidentifiers or respective common field values for respective pivotidentifier fields. In addition, one or more of the events in each of thenested journey instances can include a field value that matches thefield value of event 5 for the pivot ID field.

In some instances, gluing events can be identified to interrelate thedifferent nested journey instances with the event 5. In some cases, anarrow between nodes can identify a gluing event. For example, the arrowsto nodes A, B, D, and F can indicate that those nodes correspond togluing events. As also described herein, in some cases, multiple gluingevents can be used to relate a nested journey instance to the primaryjourney instance without the presence of a single event that includesthe field value for the pivot ID of the primary journey instance and thefield value for the pivot ID of the nested journey instance. Forexample, a first gluing event can be used to identify the relationshipbetween event 5 and the events of the nested journey instancecorresponding to row 4804B and a second gluing event can be used toidentify the relationship between the events of the nested journeyinstance corresponding to row 4804B and the events of the nested journeyinstance corresponding to row 4804C. However, there may not be a gluingevent that explicitly identifies the relationship between event 5 andthe events of the nested journey instance corresponding to row 4804C.Notwithstanding, the system 108 can determine that the events of thenested journey instance corresponding to row 4804C are related to event5 based on the two aforementioned gluing events. In this way, the system108 can relate the events of the nested journey instance correspondingto row 4804C to event 5 without a gluing event that explicitly relatesthem.

Furthermore, as described herein, the different events of each journeyinstance can be categorized based on one or more step IDs. For example,the event corresponding to node A can have a first field value for afirst step ID field and the event corresponding to node C can have asecond field value for the second step ID. Similarly, eventscorresponding to nodes B and E can have different field values for thesame step ID field. In this way, the system can categorize the differentevents in the nested journeys with different steps. Although discussedabove with reference to a step ID for each nested journey instance, insome cases, a single step ID can be sued for all the nested journeyinstance and the primary journey instance. Further, in some casesmultiple events in the same nested journey can have the same field valuefor the step ID indicating that a particular step was repeated at alater point in time.

It will be understood that a variety of visualizations can be used toindicate the relationship between the event 5 and events of relatednested journey instances. Further, as indicated above, the visualization4800 is not limited to events and a journey instance, but can indicaterelationships between step instances of journey instances with dependentstep instances or between events or steps of journey models withdependent events or steps of journey models.

5.0 HYBRID CLOUD/PRIVATE DATA ENVIRONMENTS

As discussed above, a data intake and query system as described hereinmay be implemented within a private environment, such as on-premises ofan entity, or in a cloud environment provided by a service provider orhosting entity. Each configuration may provide various benefits whileincurring various costs.

For example, a cloud environment may avoid the need for a user toindependently provide and manage the computing devices upon whichvarious components of data intake and query system 108 operate. Rather,such responsibility may be delegated to other entities, such as aservice provider. In some instances, this may enable users to enjoy lessproblematic and more feature-filled applications. For example, a serviceprovider may automatically update cloud-provided software providingaccess to the data intake and query system 108, such that a user isalways enabled to use a most recent version of that software, withoutrequiring the user to manage installation and provisioning of thatsoftware. This can be especially beneficial in large user environments.For example, where a “user” is in fact a business including both typicalend users (who access the system 108 to, e.g., search data) andadministrators (who maintain aspects of the system 108 on behalf of thebusiness), use of a cloud-based system can enable typical end users toenjoy constant improvements without requiring intervention of anadministrator.

One potential “cost” of using a cloud-based data intake and query system108 may be that data stored by the system 108 itself exists on a systemnot under the direct and total control of a user (e.g., a business).While a service provider of the cloud-based system may take measures tosafeguard that data (e.g., encryption, strong privacy policies, etc.),some users—and particularly those maintaining highly sensitive personaldata—may prefer not to disclose any private data to a service provideror hosting entity, even in encrypted form. As such, these users maymaintain an on-premises data intake and query system 108, forgoing thebenefits of a cloud-based system. It would be advantageous, therefore,to create environments providing the benefits of a cloud-based dataintake and query system 108, such as rapid updating of applications toaccess the system 108, while still enabling a user to maintain thesystem 108 on-premises.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, systems andmethods are provided to enable the use of hybrid environments, such ashybrid cloud/private environments, whereby an application used to accessfunctionality of one environment (e.g., a data intake and query system)108 is provided by a cloud-based hosting system within a differentenvironment, thereby enabling rapid modification to that applicationwithout management by an administrator. Thus, embodiments of the presentdisclosure address the problems identified above, providing benefits ofa cloud-based data intake and query system 1006 without ramifications ofthose systems that may be viewed as detrimental by some users.

Specifically, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure,access to a data intake and query system 108 is provided by amulti-component application, including a first component provided by acloud-based component hosting system and a second component within aprivate environment (e.g., “on-premises”) of the data intake and querysystem 108. The first and second component illustratively interoperateto provide the application, thus enabling access to on-premises data orfunctionality. In the illustrative example, the on-premises data is adata intake and query system 108. However, a multi-component applicationas described herein may additionally or alternatively be used to accessother on-premises data or functionality.

Division of an application into multiple components can provide a numberof benefits. For example, the cloud-provided component of theapplication may be rapidly modified to provide new features orfunctionality, or to correct errors in prior features or functionality,without requiring reconfiguration of the on-premises component. Forexample, the cloud-provided component may correspond to user interfacesfor a data intake and query system 108 (e.g., a “frontend” for thatsystem 108), while the on-premises component may correspond to anapplication, server, or application executing on a server providing dataor functionality to the frontend. In this configuration, a serviceprovider associated with the cloud-provided component may periodicallyrelease new versions of the frontend, such as updated functionalities,bug-fixes, or the like, which may be used by users of the system 108without requiring reconfiguration of the on-premises component orreleases of new version of the on-premises component.

In one embodiment, a cloud-based component hosting system may providemultiple versions of a cloud-provided component, and enable users toselect which version they would prefer. For example, the cloud-basedcomponent hosting system may maintain both a “stable” version (e.g.,corresponding to a well-tested and verified-functional version of thecomponent, with a fixed code base over a given period of time) and oneor more other versions (e.g., a “latest,” “preview,” “beta,” or“nightly” version corresponding to less well tested but more frequentlyupdated versions). Various additional “versions” may be provided, eachassociated with different functionalities, and each configured tointeract with the on-premises component to provide an applicationenabling a user to access on-premises data or functionality. End usersmay be enabled to select an implement various cloud-provided componentson-demand. For example, each cloud-provided component may include aninput enabling an end user to select an alternative cloud-providedcomponent, and selection of the input may cause the alternativecomponent to be retrieved and implemented, as discussed in more detailbelow.

An on-premises component, as disclosed herein, may be configured tofacilitate access to on-premises data or functionality via themulti-component application. For example, the on-premises component maybe configured to obtain requests for information or functionality from acloud-provided component, and to respond to such requests accordingly(e.g., by providing the requested information, invoking the requestedfunctionality, etc.). In some instances, the on-premises component maybe configured to redirect users to a cloud-provided component, enablinguse of the cloud-provided component. For example, an on-premisescomponent may include a web server accessible by a network accessprogram (e.g., a web browser) of a client device 102. An end user mayaccess the web server in an attempt to access an application providedaccess to an on-premises data intake and query system 108. While the webserver may be configured to provide direct access to the system 108(e.g., as a purely on-premises configuration, in accordance withembodiments above), the server may additionally or alternatively beconfigured to redirect the user to a cloud-based component hostingsystem, to cause the user to obtain a cloud-provided component used toaccess the on-premises component (which components, in conjunction,provide the multi-component application). For example, the on-premisesweb server may redirect a web browser of the client device 102 to a URLof the cloud-based component hosting system.

In some instances, rather than only redirecting a client device 102 to acloud-provided component, an on-premises component may additionallyconfigure the client device 102 to enable interaction between thecloud-provided and on-premises components. For example, where thecloud-provided component is a web page provided by a cloud-basedcomponent hosting system, it may be difficult for that web page todirectly access the on-premises component (e.g., due to firewalls ornetwork configuration limiting access to the on-premises component). Toaddress this, the on-premises component may, rather than completelyredirecting a client device 102 to a cloud-provided component (e.g., viaa 300 series status code redirect), may instruct a client device 102such that the device 102 both maintains a connection to the on-premisescomponent and loads a cloud-provided component. For example, theon-premises component may return a web page to a client device 102 thatincludes an embedded element, such as an inline frame (or “iframe”),referencing the cloud-provided component. Code executing within theembedded element may therefore utilize the already-establishedconnection with the on-premises component to communicate with thatcomponent. For example, client-side scripting (e.g., JavaScript) withinthe embedded element may pass requests to client-side scripting withinthe web page, which may in turn pass requests to the on-premisescomponent. Responses from the on-premises component may similarly bepassed to the web page and into the embedded element. In this manner, acloud-provided component implemented on a client device 102 maycommunicate with an on-premises component, without requiring directcommunication between a cloud-based system and the on-premisescomponent.

While use of a cloud-provided component as part of a multi-componentapplication may enable rapid deployment of new features within theapplication, in some instances these new features may not be compatiblewith an on-premises component. For example, where the cloud-providedcomponent provides a “frontend” and the on-premises component provides a“backend,” a variety of improvements may be made to the frontend that donot require changes to backend functionality. However, improvements tobackend processing—which may be made accessible via the frontend—may notbe possible without modifying the on-premises component. Moreover, thecloud-based component hosting system that provides the cloud-providedcomponent may provide such components to multiple users, associated withmultiple on-premises environments. Thus, in practice, it may bedesirable for a given cloud-provided component to maintain compatibilitywith whichever version of an on-premises component a user may haveimplemented within their on-premises environment.

To address this issue, a cloud-provided component as discussed hereinmay be configured to, on initialization, determine a version of anon-premises component used as part of a multi-component application (andpotentially versions of other on-premises data or functionality, such asa version of a data intake and query system 108 accessed by theon-premises component), and adjust functionality of the cloud-providedcomponent to maintain compatibility with the on-premises component(and/or other on-premises data or functionality). Illustratively, eachversion of a cloud-provided component may include data mapping featuresof the cloud-provided component to one or more compatible versions of anon-premises component (and/or other on-premises data or functionality),such as a minimum compatible version of the on-premises component. Whenthe cloud-provided component is accessed in conjunction with anon-premises component, the cloud-provided component may determine theversion of the on-premises component, and adjust its functionality tomaintain compatibility with the on-premises component, such as bydisabling features of the cloud-provided component that are incompatiblewith the on-premises component. In some instances, the cloud-providedcomponent may be configured to notify an end user of theincompatibility, such as by responding to requests to access theincompatible features by prompting the end user to upgrade theiron-premises component.

5.1 Example Hybrid Environment

FIG. 49A is a block diagram of an example hybrid cloud/privateenvironment 4900, in which a multi-component application may enableaccess to an on-premises data intake and query system 108 whileproviding benefits associated with use of cloud-provided code. As shownin FIG. 49A, the environment 4900 includes a client device 102, acloud-based hosting system 4910, and a private environment 4930, allinterconnected via a network 104.

While shown as a single network 104, the network 104 may representmultiple interconnected networks. For example, the client device 102 andthe private environment 4930 may interact via a private network (e.g., aLAN or VPN) while the client device 102 and the cloud-based hostingsystem 4910 interact via a public network (e.g., the public Internet).In some instances, the private environment 4930 may have limited or nopublic availability. For example, the private environment 4930 may beinaccessible to the cloud-based hosting system 4910.

The private environment 4930 generally represents a collection ofcomputing devices under control of a user, which may for examplecorrespond to a business or organization. As shown in FIG. 49A, theprivate environment 4930 includes a data intake and query system 108 inan “on-premises” configuration (e.g., configured and maintained by theuser providing the private environment 4930). In one embodiment,“on-premises” may refer to the system 108 being physically hosted at alocation owned or operated by a user of the system 108. However,“on-premises” as used herein may also refer to an independently managedsystem 108 not physically hosted at a location owned or operated by theuser. For example, an “on-premises” configuration may include a system108 configured and maintained by a user, even when that system 108 iscreated and maintained using otherwise publically available services(e.g., as a private, independent system 108 created using publicresources of a hosted computing provider).

The environment 4930 further includes an on-premises component 4932.Illustratively, the on-premises component 4932 represents a componentthat facilitates access to the system 108, such as by providing a webserver, application programming interface (API) or the like. Theon-premises component 4932 can be, for example, an application or acomponent of an application that can provide an interface to the system108. While shown independently in FIG. 49A, the on-premises component4932 may be provided by a server or other computing device within theprivate environment 4930. Moreover, while shown as distinct from thedata intake and query system 108, the on-premises component 4932 may insome embodiments be incorporated into or formed by the system 108. Forexample, in some instances a search head 210 may correspond to theon-premises component 4932, or may execute code to implement theon-premises component 4932.

As noted above, a multi-component application may be formed bycooperation of the on-premises component 4932 with a cloud-providedcomponent 4904 implemented at the client device 102, illustrativelyprovided by the cloud-based hosting system 4910. As shown in FIG. 49A,the cloud-based hosting system 4910 includes a cloud component interface4912, which can correspond to a server that provides an interfacethrough which code corresponding to the cloud-provided component may beretrieved by the client device 102. For example, the cloud componentinterface 4912 can correspond to a web server accessible via a URL forthe cloud-based hosting system 4910. In some instances, the interface4912 is implemented as a virtual computing device within a hostedcomputing environment, which may include a variety of physical hostcomputing devices configured to rapidly implement such virtual computingdevices. For example, the cloud component interface 4912 may beimplemented as a virtual computing “instance” on AMAZON®'s ELASTICCOMPUTE CLOUD™ (“AMAZON EC2®”).

The cloud-based hosting system 4910 further includes a component datastore 4914 including various versions of a cloud-provided component(e.g., in the form of code, scripts, and/or another format such asHTML). For example, where versions increment sequentially, the store mayinclude a latest version and a past n versions of the component. In someinstances, multiple “branches” (e.g., versions not in sequence with oneanother) may also be included within the component data store 4914. Thecomponent data store 4914 can correspond to any substantially persistentdata store 4914, a wide variety of which are known in the art. In oneembodiment, the component data store 4914 is a logical data store 4914provided by a network-accessible storage service based on underlyingphysical data storage devices. For example, the component data store4914 may be implemented as a data store on AMAZON®'s SIMPLE STORAGESERVICE (or “S3”).

The cloud-based hosting system 4910 further includes a versioning datastore 4916 including information mapping versions of the cloud-providedcomponent (as stored in the component data store 4914) to versionindicators, which generally indicate a version type for thecorresponding component version. For example, the cloud-based hostingsystem 4910 may maintain both a “stable” version (which has a relativelyfixed code base that is infrequently changed relative to other versions)and a “latest” version of a cloud-provided component (which may be morefrequently changed, such as changed each day, week, month, as needed orother at other times), and make these versions available to clientdevices 102 under those indicators. Over time, the code corresponds toindicator such as “latest” and “stable” may vary. For example, a newversion of the cloud-provided component may be developed by a developerassociated with the cloud-based hosting system 4910 and designated as anew “latest” version. After testing and revision, code previouslylabeled as a “latest” version may be formally released as a “stable”version on a given release date with the prior “stable” version beingdeleted or deprecated, etc. Thus, to facilitate identification of thecode corresponding to a given version indicator, the versioning datastore 4916 includes a mapping of indicators to code, shown in FIG. 49Aas table 4920. In one embodiment, the versioning data store 4916 mayrepresent a database (e.g., a cloud-hosted database, such as provided byAMAZON®'s DYNAMODB database service), and the table 4920 may represent atable within that database.

In addition to the component data store 4914 and the versioning datastore 4916, the cloud-based hosting system 4910 includes an informationobjects data store 4918 storing information objects utilized by thecloud-provided component 4904 or the host system 4910. Like thecomponent data store 4914, the information objects data store 4918 maybe a logical data store provided by a network-accessible storage servicebased on underlying physical data storage devices, such as by AMAZON®'sS3 service.

In one embodiment, the information objects data store 4918 stores“metadata” regarding operation of the cloud-provided component 4904. Invarious examples, the cloud provided component 4904 can storeinformation enabling a client device 102 to interact with theon-premises component and/or the data intake and query system 108,whereas the data intake and query system 108 may store the data to beinteracted with by an end user. The metadata may include informationspecifying, for example, journeys, data flows, workflows, datavisualizations, configurations, and the like. The cloud-providedcomponent 4904, when implemented on the client device 102, may interactwith the cloud-based hosting system 4910 to retrieve metadata from theinformation objects data store 4918 for use by the cloud-providedcomponent 4904. In addition to metadata, the information objects datastore 4918 may include permission information mapping metadata toindividual end user identities.

In some embodiments, the information objects data store 4918 furtherstores information derived from or generated based on unstructured eventdata from the data intake and query system 108. As noted above, the dataintake and query system 108 may provide for flexible schemas, includinglate-binding schemas, which beneficial enable rapid querying of data onthe system 108 without the loss of information often associated withconversion to structured data. While the use of the system 108 mayprovide numerous benefits, the structure of the system 108 may in someinstances not be ideal for storing all types of data. For example, inone embodiment, the system 108 may restrict external systems fromdeleting data from the data stores 208 (e.g., to avoid potential dataloss). Illustratively, rather than remove data entirely, the system 108may instead generate a “tombstone” of deleted data, indicating that thedata has been deleted and potentially replaced with other data. Thistombstoning functionality—while potentially guarding against data lossand therefore providing benefits—may restrict the ability of the system108 to efficiently handle frequently modified information. For example,each modification of information may result in creation of a tombstonefor a past version of the information, which tombstones are reviewedduring subsequent queries of the information. While handling oftombstones may be more rapid than handling of current information, suchhandling may nevertheless slow query processing. Thus, it may bedesirable to store rapidly modified information in a separate datastore, such as the information objects data store 4918, particularlywhere data regarding past versions of the information is not required.In some embodiments, the information objects data store 4918 is used tostore information derived from the data intake and query system 108, andthus it may be unnecessary to store data regarding past versions of theinformation (as such data could be recovered from the system 108). Thus,the system 108 and information object data store 4918 can operate inconjunction to provide efficient storage of various types of data.

The cloud-based hosting system 4910 further includes a structured datastore 4922, which corresponds to a data store configured to store dataobjects that conform to a pre-defined data structure. The structureddata store 4922 may correspond, for example, to a tabular database. Inone embodiment, the structured data store 4922 is a columnar database,such that data objects are divided into columns of data, which columnsare shared among objects. More particularly, the store 4922 may be atimeseries database, such that individual data objects (e.g., entries)are arranged according to a timestamp associated with the data object.One example of a timeseries columnar database that may be used inaccordance with embodiments of the present application is APACHE DRUID™.Similarly to the information objects data store 4918, the structureddata store 4922 can be used in conjunction with the system 108 toaddress inefficiencies of the system 108 under specific scenarios. Forexample, while the use of late-binding schema at the system 108 mayprovide extreme flexibility, queries of the system 108 may require morecomputing resource usage than queries of a structured data store.Accordingly, when specific information (e.g., of a known structure) ispredicted to be queried in the future, such information may retrievedfrom the system 108 be stored within the structured data store 4922 toenable rapid retrieval of that information at a later time, withoutincurring a delay due to querying the system 108 at the time ofretrieval.

Example embodiments utilizing the information objects data store 4918and the structured data store 4922 to support retrieval of informationderived from unstructured event data of the system 108 are describedbelow with respect to FIGS. 63-65 .

Returning to discussion of a multi-component application, to access suchan application, a user may utilize a client device 102 that includes anetwork access program 4902. The network access program 4902 mayillustratively correspond to a web browser, mobile application, or othersoftware enabling implementation of network-hosted code (e.g., HTML,client-side scripting such as JavaScript, etc.). For example, the usermay utilize the access program 4902 to obtain a cloud-provided component4904 from the cloud-based hosting system 4910, and to implement thecloud-provided component 4904 (e.g., by rendering HTML and/or executingclient-side scripting of the component 4904). The cloud-providedcomponent 4904, when implemented by access program 4902, may interactwith the on-premises component 4932, thereby provided a multi-componentapplication that enables the user to access the data intake and querysystem 108. Various example interactions for providing and executing thecloud-provided component on the client device 102 are discussed in moredetail below.

While FIG. 49A is described with respect to a private environment 4930including an on-premises component 4932, embodiments of the presentdisclosure may also be utilized to provide multi-component applicationsacross cloud environments. For example, a first component may beprovided by a cloud-based hosting system 4910 in a manner similar to asdescribed above, while a second component may be provided by a secondcloud-based environment. An example environment 4930 according to thisconfiguration is provided in FIG. 49B. Specifically, while many elementsof FIG. 49B are similar to those of FIG. 49A (and thus will not bere-described), FIG. 49B includes a cloud-based data intake and querysystem 1006, as generally described above, and modified to include acloud-based second component 4942. The cloud-based second component 4942may generally be similar to the on-premises component 4932, but may beimplemented in the cloud-based system 1006, as opposed to within aprivate environment 4930. While shown as distinct from the systeminstances 308, the cloud-based second component 4942 may be implementedby those instances 308 (e.g., by a search head executing on an instance308). Thus, while embodiments of the present disclosure are discussedwith reference to an on-premises component, one skilled in the art willappreciate that these embodiments may alternatively include acloud-based second component of a cloud-based data intake and querysystem 1006.

5.2 Example User Interfaces

FIGS. 50 and 51 depict example user interfaces of a multi-componentapplication, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.FIG. 50 depicts an interface 5000 enabling selection of differentversions of a first component, such as a cloud-provided component 4904,to be used to provide the application. FIG. 51 depicts an interface 5100notifying a user that a feature of the first component is unavailabledue to a lack of compatibility with a second component, such as theon-premises component 4932 or the cloud-based second component 4932. Theinterfaces of FIGS. 50 and 51 include elements similar to the interface3700 of FIG. 37 . For brevity, those elements will not be re-described.

The interface 5000 of FIG. 50 includes a “Version Selector” inputselectable by an end user to display a listing 5006 multiple availableversions of a first component of a multi-component application. Theinput may be provided in conjunction with the first component. Forexample, the first component may render the interface 5000 within anetwork access program, such as a web browser, of a client device 102.Items within the listing 5006 illustratively correspond to versionindicators of the first component. As an example, the listing 5006indicates that both a stable and a latest version of the first componentare available. In FIG. 50 , a user has selected to utilize a stableversion of the first component, as shown by a check mark indicating theselected version 5004. Selection of a different version can cause thecorresponding version to be loaded within the interface 5000, therebyenabling a user to modify functionality of the interface. In someexamples, the selected version 5004 is loaded upon selection of aversion from the listing 5006. In some examples, the selected version5004 is loaded upon execution of another operation, such as when theinterface 5000 is reloaded. In these examples, reloading may occurautomatically or may be initiated by a user. Selection of a differentversion of the first component in some embodiments does not requiremodification to a second component. Thus, an end user may seamlessly andrapidly modify functionality of an application using the interface 5000of FIG. 50 , even when modification of the second component is difficultor not possible by the user.

As discussed above, in many instances functionality may be added to amulti-component application without requiring modification to a secondcomponent. However, in some instances new functionality added to theapplication via a first component may also depend on functionalityprovided by the second component. In the instance that an incompatibleversion of a second component is used, it is desirable to maintaincompatibility between the first and second components. In oneembodiment, compatibility is maintained by adjusting functionality ofthe first component, such as by disabling features of the firstcomponent that depend on functionalities unavailable within a secondcomponent. The interface 5100 of FIG. 51 provides one example of aninterface to notify an end user of adjusted functionality. As anexample, the interface 5100 includes an input 5102 corresponding to anew feature made available within the multi-component application, forwhich the first component includes executable code. In this example, thenew feature depends on functionality provided only in some versions of asecond component (e.g., a newer version than the currently-installedversion). As such, as will be described in more detail below, the firstcomponent may detect that the second component is not a version that canprovide the functionality. Should the user select the input 5102, thefirst component—rather than providing the new functionality—may providea notification 5104 to the end user, notifying the end user that theirprovided second component is not of a correct version to provide thefunctionality. In one embodiment, the notification 5104 may prompt auser to upgrade their second component, in order to access thefunctionality. For example, as shown in FIG. 51 , a link may be providedwith instructions on upgrading the second component.

In contrast to traditional mechanisms of notifying end users of newfunctions, such as a listing of new features, the interface of FIG. 51may enable end users to view how new features integrate into the overallapplication, thus incentivizing acquisition of the new features.

5.3 Multi-Component Applications in a Hybrid Environments

As discussed above, end users may benefit from the agile nature of themulti-component application disclosed herein, enabling aspects of theapplication to be altered rapidly through changes to a first component(e.g., a cloud-provided component). Moreover, end users may benefit fromaccessing the multi-component application in a similar manner toaccessing a typical single component application (e.g., without beingrequired to themselves configure multiple components to interact withone another). FIG. 52 depicts an illustrative flow enabling a clientdevice 102 to be provided with a multi-component application in a mannerthat, from the point of view of an end user, is similar to accessing asingle component application, and further enabling the end user torapidly modify a cloud-provided component of the multi-componentapplication to adjust functionality of the application without requiringchanges in configuration of an on-premises component.

The interactions of FIG. 52 begin at (1), where a client device 102obtains a request to access an application, such as an applicationenabling access to a data intake and query system 108. Illustratively,the request may be selection of a hyperlink in an access program 4902(e.g., a web browser), typing a URL of the system 108 into the accessprogram 4902, opening the access program 4902 (e.g., where the program4902 is dedicated or pre-configured to access the system 108), or thelike.

In response to the request, the access program 4902 at the client device102 transmits to the on-premises component 4932 a request for a networkobject corresponding to the application. The request may correspond, forexample, to an HTTP GET request for an HTML document. The request mayillustratively be transmitted to a web server of the on-premisescomponent 4932 based on a URL entered into or known by the client device102. Alternatively or additionally, the request may be transmitted to aninstance of a web server executing in a cloud-based hosting environment.The request may in some instances include information about the clientdevice 102 or end user, such as authentication information of the enduser (e.g., a username and password, a security token, etc.).

At (3), the on-premises component 4932 returns to the client device 102the requested network object, which may illustratively be aHTML-formatted document renderable by the access program 4902. In asingle component application, a network object may be renderable toprovide direct access to the on-premises component 4932, thus enablinginteraction with a data intake and query system 108 (or otheron-premises data or functionality). In a multi-component application, anetwork object may be utilized to redirect the client device 102 to acloud-provided component that enables use of the on-premises component.For example, the network object may be an HTML document that includes anembedded element, such as an iframe, addressed to the cloud-basedhosting system 4910.

As discussed above, use of an embedded element may enable the clientdevice 102 to maintain a network connection (e.g., an HTTP session) withboth the on-premises component 4932 (by virtue of processing the networkobject) and with the cloud-based hosting system 4910 (by virtue ofprocessing the embedded network object). In this manner, the clientdevice 102 may act as a “bridge” between these two systems. For example,a cloud-provided component received from the cloud-based hosting system4910 may obtain metadata from the cloud-based hosting system 4910, andutilize that metadata to derive queries to be passed to the on-premisescomponent 4932 (or directly to the data intake and query system 108). Inthis manner, information provided by the cloud-based hosting system 4910(e.g., a cloud-provided component 4904 and metadata) may be used tofacilitate interaction with the data intake and query system 108 withoutrequiring that the system 108 be made publically addressable, thusmaintaining security and firewall protections of the system 108.

In one embodiment, the embedded element may span the entire viewingwindow of an access program 4902, and thus appear from the view of theend user to operate similarly to a full redirect. In other embodiments,such as where the on-premises component 4932 is publically accessible, afull HTTP redirect may be used in place of a network object with anembedded element (e.g., by the on-premises component 4932 returning anHTTP 3XX status code in place of the requested network object).

On receiving the network object, the client device 102 processes theembedded element, causing the client device to request thecloud-provided component from the cloud-based hosting system 4910, at(4). The request may, for example, correspond to an HTTP GET request fora network resource identified in the embedded element. To facilitateidentification of a correct version of the cloud-provided component, therequest illustratively includes a version indicator, corresponding to aversion type for the cloud-provided component. In one embodiment, theversion indicator indicates one of a “latest” or “stable” version type.The version indicator may be user-specified, or may be specified by theon-premises component. For example, the embedded element of the networkobject provided by the on-premises component may by default result in arequest that includes a “stable” version indicator (e.g., by use of anHTTP GET variable set to “stable”). Additionally or alternatively, theon-premises component 4932 and/or the client device 102 may maintainpreference information for the end user that specifies a versionindicator, which may then be included in the request at (4). In someembodiments, preference for a version indicator may be shared amongmultiple end users. For example, a group of end users (such as allemployees of a business entity, a subset of employees, a developmentteam, or other grouping) may be associated with a shared preference fora version indicator. In one instance, the shared preference may be adefault preference, and an individual end user may override thispreference at an individual level. In another instance, the sharedpreference may be modifiable at a group level, such that an individualend user (e.g., with appropriate permissions) may modify the sharedpreference to cause each individual end user of the group, wheninteracting with the cloud-based hosting system 4910, to receive anon-premises component 4932 corresponding to version indicator indicatedby the modified shared preference.

After requesting the cloud-provided component from the cloud-basedhosting system 4910, the cloud-based hosting system 4910 processes therequest for the cloud-provided component by identifying a specificversion of the cloud-provided component that corresponds to therequested version indicator. For example, at (5), the cloud-basedhosting system 4910 queries the versioning data store 4916 for a versionof the cloud-provided component that corresponds to the specifiedversion indicator. Illustratively, the system 4910 may query the datastore 4916 for what numerical version of the cloud-provided component iscurrently designated as “stable.” The versioning data store 4916identifies the version, and returns information identifying the versionto the system 4910. Thereafter, at (7), the system 4910 queries thecomponent data store 4914 for the version identified by the versioningdata store 4916, which version may be stored within the component datastore 4914 as code. For example, the system 4910 may query the componentdata store 4914 for version “1.2.8” of a cloud-provided component(corresponding to a “stable” version, in this example).

At (8), the component data store 4914 returns the version to thecloud-based hosting system 4910. Illustratively, the data store 4914 mayreturn the version as a set of code. In one embodiment, the code caninclude PHP, JavaScript, and/or another type of code that can beexecuted on the client device 102, possibly accompanied by HTML, whichin combination the client device 102 may implement to provide thecloud-provided component. Thus, at (9), the cloud-based hosting system4910 returns the version to the client device 102. The client device102, at (10), then implements the cloud-provided component. In oneembodiment, the cloud-provided component is implemented as a “singlepage application” (or “SPA”), which provides a variety offunctionalities at the client device 102 without requiring the accessprogram 4902 to load additional network objects or to navigate to adifferent network object (e.g., web page). For example, thecloud-provided component may include client-side scripting or otherprogram code executable to implement a variety of functionalities withina single network object representing the cloud-provided component (whichobject may, for example, be displayed within the embedded element of aparent network object, as discussed above). In some embodiments, theclient-side scripting may enable communication between the client device102 and other systems, such as the cloud-component hosting system 4910,during implementation of the cloud-provided component. For example, theclient-side scripting may implement asynchronous JavaScript (“AJAX”) toretrieve and populate data into the cloud-provided component duringimplementation on the client device 102, without requiring the accessprogram 4902 to navigate to a different network object. Moreover, and aswill be described in more detail below, the cloud-provided component mayenable use of the on-premises component, providing the multi-componentapplication to an end user and enabling the end user to access anon-premises data intake and query system 108 (or other on-premises dataor functionality).

As shown in FIG. 52 , interactions (4) through (10) represent versioningsub-interactions 5202. These interactions may be repeated to rapidlyalter the cloud-provided component loaded at the client device 102,thereby altering functionality of the multi-component application. Forexample, each version of a cloud-provided component (or, alternatively,the network object provided by the on-premises component) may include aninput enabling selection of an alternative version indicator. An exampleof such an input is depicted, for example, in FIG. 50 . End userselection of the input may cause interactions (4) through (10) to berepeated accordingly to a newly selected version indicator. Thus, forexample, an end user may select the input to switch between loading a“stable” version of the cloud-provided component and a “latest” versionof the component. Notably, interactions (4) through (10) do not requireinteraction with the on-premises component 4932. Thus, an end user may,by use of different cloud-provided components, alter functionality of amulti-component application without requiring modification to theon-premises component 4932.

As noted above, in some embodiments the cloud-based hosting system 4910may store metadata used by the cloud-provided component, such asworkflows, visualizations, or the like.

This metadata may be shared between one or more end users. As such, itis desirable to authenticate end users to the cloud-based hosting system4910, to ensure that each end user is provided only with the metadataintended for that end user. While any number of traditionalauthentication schemes could be used to authenticate the end user withthe cloud-based hosting system 4910, these schemes often require the enduser to provide specific information, such as a password, to the system4910. Because the end user may have already authenticate with theon-premises component 4932, reauthentication may be cumbersome, and mayimpair providing an experience that is similar to use of asingle-component application.

To address these and other possible issues, in some embodiments of thepresent disclosure the on-premises component 4932 may be configured toact as an identity provider on behalf of the end user. For example,after having authenticated to the on-premises component 4932, theon-premises component 4932 may provide authentication information of anend user to the cloud-based hosting system 4910, thus enabling the enduser to access metadata on the system 4910 without reauthenticating tothat system 4910. Interactions for using the on-premises component as anidentity provider for an end user of a client device 102 are shown inFIG. 53 .

As shown in FIG. 53 , the interactions depicted occur in part betweendifferent objects loaded into an access program 4902 on a client device102; specifically, a cloud-provided component 5302 and a network object5304 provided by the on-premises component (referred to for brevity asan “on-premises network object”). These objects may be loaded, forexample, according to the interactions of FIG. 52 . In one example, theon-premises network object 5304 is a web page provided by theon-premises component 5302 and the cloud-provided component 5302 is aweb page loaded within an embedded element (e.g., an iframe) of theon-premises network object 5304.

As noted above, the on-premises network object 5304 may act as a“bridge” between the cloud-provided component 5302 and the on-premisescomponent 4932, enabling these two to communicate without compromisingfirewalls or other security of the on-premises component 4932.Accordingly, the interactions of FIG. 53 begin at (1), where thecloud-provided component 5302 transmits a request to the on-premisesnetwork object 5304 for a security token. The on-premises network object5304, in turn, transmits the request (or a separate correspondingrequest) to the on-premises component 4932. As will be described below,the requested security token may be used by the cloud-provided component5302 to authenticate with the cloud-based hosting system 4910, and toretrieve information (e.g., metadata) permitted to be accessed by an enduser.

In the interactions of FIG. 53 , it is assumed that an end user haspreviously authenticated with the on-premises component 4932 (e.g.,during the interactions of FIG. 52 ). As such, the on-premises componentis aware of an identity of the end user, and the capabilities of the enduser within the private environment 4930. The on-premises component 4932therefore acts as an identity provider for the end user, by at (3)notifying the cloud-based hosting system 4910 of the identity of the enduser and the end user's capabilities, and requesting a security tokenusable by the cloud-provided component to authenticate the end user tothe cloud-based hosting system 4910. In some embodiments, the requestfor a security token may include authentication information of theon-premises component. For example, the request may be digitally signedby the on-premises component 4932 according to public key cryptography.

The cloud-based hosting system 4910, in turn at (4), provides therequested security token to the on-premises component 4932. As shown inFIG. 53 , the token is then passed back to the cloud-provided component5302, by first being returned from the on-premises component 4932 to theon-premises network object 5304 at (5), and then being returned from theon-premises network object 5304 to the cloud-provided component 5302 at(6).

Thereafter, the cloud-provided component 5302 may utilize the securitytoken to directly interact with the cloud-based hosting system 4910 asthe authenticated end user, independent of the on-premises component.For example, as shown at interaction (7), the cloud-provided component5302 may request metadata from the cloud-based hosting system 4910 usingthe security token, which is returned at (8).

During operation of the cloud-provided component 5302, metadata may becommunicated between the cloud-provided component 5302 and thecloud-based hosting system 4910 at various times. For example, where auser of the cloud-provided component 5302 modifies metadata, the usermay request saving of the modification, and the cloud-provided component5302 may submit the modified metadata to the cloud-based hosting system4910 for storage. Each such communication may use the security token toensure authentication of the end user. In some instances, the providedsecurity token may be associated with an expiration time (e.g., a 10,20, or 30 minute duration, etc.). Thus, the interactions of FIG. 53 maybe periodically repeated to ensure that the cloud-provided component5302 maintains a non-expired security token.

As discussed above, use of a multi-component application may enablerapid development of functionality of the application by use ofdifferent versions of a first (e.g., cloud-provided) component, withoutrequiring modification of a second (e.g., on-premises) component. Forexample, a developer of a multi-component application may provide oradminister the cloud-based hosting system 4910, enabling the developerto provide new versions of a first component (such as the cloud-providedcomponent 4904) and to designate version indicators for various versionsof the first component. Illustratively, the developer may determine thata given version of the first component (which may have previously beendesignated as a “latest’ version) should, as of a given date (e.g., a“release date”) be designated as “stable.” The developer may then modifythe versioning data store 4916 such that the “stable” version indicatoris mapped to the version of the first component. In such a case, theprevious “stable” version may be deprecated, and may no longer beavailable. The developer may further modify the versioning data store4916 to designate a new “latest” version, which may correspond to newlyprovided code of the first component. After such modification, requestsfrom client devices 102 to obtain a given version indicator (e.g.,“latest” or “stable”) may be satisfied by providing the code of thenewly-mapped versions, thus enabling those client devices 102, as of therelease date, to obtain a most recent “latest” or “stable” version ofthe first component. In some instances, the developer may implement arelease cadence whereby at each release date, a prior “latest” versionis designated as “stable” and a new “latest” version is provided.

However, there may be instances in which functionality added to amulti-component application is required to be implemented at leastpartially in the second component. For example, where a first componentprovides a frontend for data visualization and a second componentprovides a backend for data processing, new visualizations may be addedby modification of the first component, but new data processing mayrequire modification of the second component. As another example, wherea first component provides data analysis and a second component providesan API to retrieve data for analysis, new types of data analysis may beadded by modification of the first component, but only where the API ofthe second component enables the first component to retrieve thenecessary data. In some instances, modification of the second componentmay occur independently of modification of a first component. Forexample, while a developer may modify versions of a first component byinteraction with the cloud-based hosting system 4910, the secondcomponent may be administered by a separate entity (e.g., anadministrator of a private environment, an administrator of acloud-based data intake and query system 1006, etc.). As such, variousdifferent private environments may implement various different versionsof a second component. It may therefore be desirable to adjustfunctionality of a first component to maintain compatibility with asecond component, enabling agile modification of the first componentwithout requiring modification of the second component.

Illustrative interactions for adjusting functionality of a firstcomponent (illustratively a cloud-provided component) to maintaincompatibility with a second component (illustratively an on-premisescomponent) are displayed in FIG. 54 . The interactions of FIG. 54 mayoccur, for example, on initialization of a cloud-provided component 5302(e.g., subsequent to or concurrently with the interactions of FIG. 54 ).

The interactions of FIG. 54 begin at (1), where the cloud-providedcomponent 5302 transmits a request to the on-premises network object5304 for versioning information regarding the on-premises component4932. In accordance with the discussion above, the request may betransmitted to the on-premises network object 5304 in order to utilizethe existing network connection between the on-premises network object5304 and the on-premises component 4932. For example, client-sidescripting within the cloud-provided component 5302 may pass the requestto client-side scripting of the on-premises component 4932. Theon-premises network object 5304 then, at (2), forwards the request tothe on-premises component 4932, such as by using the HTTP connectionestablished when loading the on-premises network object 5304.

At (3), the on-premises component 4932 retrieves its versioninformation, and returns that information to the on-premises networkobject 5304 (e.g., over the HTTP connection). The network object 5304,at (4), returns the information to the cloud-provided component 5302(e.g., by use of client-side scripting).

Thereafter, at (5), the cloud-provided component 5302 may adjust itsfunctionality based on the version of the on-premises component 4932.For example, the code of the cloud-provided component 5302 may designatecertain functionalities of the component 4932 as requiring a minimumversion of the on-premises component 4932. Thus, if the detected versionof the component 4932 does not meet the minimum version, thesefunctionalities may be disabled. In some instances, use of thesefunctionalities may result in a notification to the end user that thefunctionality is disabled, and an invitation to update the on-premisescomponent 4932 to a more recent version. An example of such aninvitation is depicted, for example, in FIG. 51 .

After initialization (e.g., including obtaining a security token,loading metadata from the cloud-based hosting system 4910, adjustingfunctionality to maintain compatibility with the on-premises component4932, etc.), the cloud-provided component 5302 and the on-premisescomponent 4932 can interoperate to provide the multi-componentapplication to an end user. Illustrative interactions for operation ofthe cloud-provided component 5302 and the on-premises component 4932 toprovide the multi-component application to an end user are depicted inFIG. 55 . While the interactions of FIG. 55 are described with respectto use of a multi-component application to access an on-premises dataintake and query system 108, such an application may be used to accessany of a variety of data or functionalities.

The interactions of FIG. 55 begin at (1), where the cloud-providedcomponent 5302 obtains a request to access data or functionality madeavailable by the on-premises component, such as data of the data intakeand query system 108. The request may be obtained, for example, as userinteraction to an interface provided by the cloud-provided component5302. For example, the request may take the form of an inputcorresponding to a query (e.g., in the SPL query language) and selectionof a “run query” button within an interface. Additionally oralternatively, the request may take the form of selection of a workflowdisplayed within an interface, which workflow corresponds, for example,to a series of steps (each of which may correspond, for example, to aquery against the system 108, data analysis of query results,visualizations of results, or the like).

At (2), the cloud-provided component 5302 transmits a data request tothe on-premises network object 5304, requesting data from theon-premises component 4932 to be used to satisfy the user request. Thedata request may correspond to the obtained request from the user. Forexample, the data request may include an SPL-formatted query input bythe user, a data request corresponding to a first step of a workflow, orthe like. As noted above, transmission of the data between thecloud-provided component 5302 and the on-premises network object 5304may occur via operation of client-side scripting (e.g., JavaScript). Theon-premises network object 5304, at (3), forwards the request to theon-premises component 4932. Because the on-premises network object hasan existing connection to the on-premises component 4932, transmissionof the request may generally not require the component 4932 to bepublicly accessible, thus maintaining security of the component 4932.

In one embodiment, the on-premises component 4932 may provide aninterface, such as an API, with a known structure. As such, thecloud-provided component 5302 may transmit a data request formatted forthat interface, and the request may be forwarded by the on-premisesnetwork object 5304. In another embodiment, the on-premises networkobject 5304 may act to “translate” requests between the cloud-providedcomponent 5302 and the on-premises component 4932, such as by modifyinga format of the request to comply with an interface of the on-premisescomponent 4932.

On receiving the request, the on-premises component 4932 processes therequest by accessing its available data or functionality (e.g., withinthe data intake and query system 108) and determining results of therequest. For example, where the request specified a certain query be runagainst a dataset, the on-premises component 4932 may execute the queryand return results. The results may then, at (5), be returned to theon-premises network object 5304, and at (6) to the cloud-providedcomponent 5302. The cloud-provided component may then, at (7), displaythe results (or information derived from the results, such as avisualization, summarization, or other graphical or textual display) toan end user.

While FIG. 55 is discussed with respect to passing of a request to anon-premises component 4932 distinct from a data intake and query system108, in some instances that component 4932 may be incorporated into thesystem 108. For example, a search head 210 may include or implement theon-premises component 4932. In such an embodiment, the cloud-providedcomponent 5302 and on-premises network object 5304 may interact with thesearch head 210 in a manner similar to that described above. Forexample, the component 5302 may submit an SPL-language query to theobject 5304, which the object 5304 may pass to the search head 210 to beexecuted. In this embodiment, the results of the query may correspond toevent records matching the query, which records may be used to supportdisplay of information (e.g., a visualization) within an interface on aclient device 102. Moreover, while FIG. 55 depicts a single round-tripcommunication between the cloud-provided component 5302 and theon-premises component 4932, in some instances multiple round tripcommunications may occur. For example, where the end user request isexecution of a workflow including a series of steps, any or all of suchsteps may involve transmission of a data request to the system 108.Thus, the interactions of FIG. 55 are intended to be illustrative innature.

5.4 Example Routines to Provide a Multi-Component Application

FIGS. 56-58 depict example routines that may be used to provide amulti-component application, as described herein. For example, FIG. 56depicts an illustrative routine for providing a multi-componentapplication including a first component whose version may be altered tovary the functionality of the application, without requiringmodification to a second component of the application; FIG. 57 depictsan illustrative routine for seamlessly providing a multi-componentapplication in a manner that, from the point of view of an end user, issimilar to accessing a single-component application; and FIG. 58 depictsan illustrative routine for adjusting functionality of a first componentin a multi-component application to maintain compatibility with a secondcomponent of the application.

The illustrative routines of FIGS. 56-58 may be implemented, forexample, by a client device 102. In one embodiment, the client device102 implements a first component of the multi-component application,which may be for example a cloud-provided component 5302. Execution ofthe first component can enable use of a second component, such as anon-premises component 4932 or a cloud-based second component 4932,providing access to data or functionality. Because these components maybe decoupled and independently modifiable, overall functionality of theapplication may be varied by modification to the first component,without requiring that the second component be modified (e.g., becausemodification of the second component may be more difficult in terms ofrequiring, for example, administrative access).

With reference to FIG. 56 , the illustrative routine 5600 begins at5602, where a client device 102 obtains a request to access anapplication including first and second components. The request maycorrespond, for example, to end user input to the client device 102(e.g., accessing an access program, such as a web browser or dedicatedprogram, typing a URL or selecting a hyperlink to the application,etc.).

At block 5604, the client device 102 transmits a request for the firstcomponent, including a specified version indicator for the firstcomponent. Illustratively, the version indicator may indicate aparticular version type for the first component, such as a “latest” or“stable” version. In one embodiment, the user may specify a version typewithin their request to access the application. For example, whenexecuting one version of a first component, a user may select ahyperlink to another version of the first component. In anotherembodiment, the client device 102 may maintain a record of an end user'spreferred version. For example, an access program may maintain a record(e.g., a cookie of a web browser) indicating a preferred contentindicator, and append the request of block 5604 with the indicator. Instill other embodiments, the version indicator may be added to therequest based on instructions from an external device. For example,where a user attempts to access the second component directly (e.g., asif the second component were a single component application), the secondcomponent may instruct the client device 102 to obtain the firstcomponent, and further specify a version indicator of the firstcomponent (e.g., as a default version indicator). In one embodiment, therequest of block 5604 is an HTTP-formatted request, such as a GETrequest. The request is illustratively transmitted over a network to adevice maintaining one or more versions of the first component. Forexample, the request may be transmitted over the network 104 to thecloud-based hosting system 4910. In one embodiment, the request istransmitted over a public portion of the network 104 (e.g., the publicInternet), which may itself be considered a network.

At block 5606, the client device 102 receives program code executable toimplement the first component. In one embodiment, the program code mayinclude client-side scripting executable within a network access programof the client device 102, such as a web browser. The code may bereceived in conjunction with markup language, such as HTML, renderableto present an interface of the first component on the client device 102.For example, where the request of block 5604 is an HTTP request, block5606 may correspond to receiving an HTTP response including an HTMLdocument and client-side scripting. As discussed above, the firstcomponent may enable use of the second component (e.g., on a remotesystem), and the first and second component, in conjunction, provide theapplication. For example, the first component may provide a frontendthrough which the second component—a backend—may be accessed. In oneembodiment, the first component and second component communicate over aprivate network (e.g., a private portion of the network 104). Thus,while the first component may be provided by a remote system (e.g., thecloud-based hosting system 4910), that remote system is not required insome embodiments to have the capability of accessing the secondcomponent.

With reference to FIG. 57 , an illustrative routine 5700 is depicted toseamlessly provide a multi-component application in a manner that, fromthe point of view of an end user, is similar to accessing asingle-component application. The routine 5700 may be implemented, forexample, by a client device 102.

The routine 5700 begins at block 5702, where the client device 102receives a request to access an application. The request may correspond,for example, to end user input to the client device 102 (e.g., accessingan access program, such as a web browser or dedicated program, typing aURL or selecting a hyperlink to the application, etc.).

At block 5704, the client device 102 requests the application from aserver, in a manner similar to a request for a single componentapplication. For example, the client device 102 may request a web pagefrom the server that is associated with the application. In oneembodiment, the server is associated with data or functionality of theapplication. For example, the server may provide a second component ofthe multi-component application. The server may correspond, for example,to a device hosting the on-premises component 4932 of FIG. 49A, or adevice hosting the cloud-based second component 4932 of FIG. 49B. Toenable agile modification of functionality of the application, theserver may be configured to redirect the client device 102 to analternative network location to obtain a first component that, inconjunction with the second component, provides the application.

Accordingly, at block 5706, the client devices 102 obtains instructionsto access a first component from a second network location. In oneembodiment, the instructions may included in an HTTP response from theserver. For example, the instructions may be included in an HTMLdocument provided by the server. In one instance, the instructions arean HTML element, such as an iframe element, that references the secondnetwork location. The second network location may, for example, a deviceof the cloud-based hosting system 4910 (e.g., the cloud componentinterface 4912).

At block 5708, the client device 102 requests code for the firstcomponent from the second network location, in accordance with theinstructions. For example, the client device 102 may process an HTMLelement and, based on such processing, transmit an HTTP request to asecond network location for a network object (e.g., an HTML document)including code for the first component.

At block 5710, the client device 102 obtains the code responsive to therequest, and execute the code to implement the first component. Thefirst component illustratively enables use of the second component,thereby providing the multi-component application to an end user of theclient device 102. As discussed above, code for the first component mayinclude client-side scripting executable within a network access programof the client device 102, such as a web browser. The code may beprovided in conjunction with markup language, such as HTML, renderableto present an interface of the first component on the client device 102.Thus, block 5710 may include, for example, obtaining a web pageresponsive to the request of block 5708 and rendering the webpage toprovide the first component.

In one embodiment, blocks 5704 through 5710 of the routine 5700 occurprogrammatically, without requiring input from and end user. Thus, fromthe point of view of an end user, the user may request access to anapplication at block 5702, and that application may be provided at block5710. In this way, a multi-component application can be implemented in amanner that, from the point of view of an end user, provides a similarexperience to accessing a single component application.

With reference to FIG. 58 , an illustrative routine 5800 is depicted toadjust functionality of a first component in a multi-componentapplication to maintain compatibility with a second component of theapplication. The routine 5800 may be implemented, for example, by aclient device 102.

The routine 5800 begins at block 5802, where the client device 102receives a request to access a multi-component application, theapplication including first and second components. The request maycorrespond, for example, to end user input to the client device 102(e.g., accessing an access program, such as a web browser or dedicatedprogram, typing a URL or selecting a hyperlink to the application,etc.). As discussed above, the first component may be remotely hosted(e.g., at a cloud-based hosting system 4910), and executable locally onthe client device. The second component may be remote to the clientdevice 102, such as within a private environment 4930 or a cloud-baseddata intake and query system 1006.

At block 5804, the client device 102 transmits a request for the firstcomponent. In one embodiment, the request of block 5804 is anHTTP-formatted request, such as a GET request. The request isillustratively transmitted over a network to a device maintaining thefirst component. For example, the request may be transmitted over thenetwork 104 to the cloud-based hosting system 4910. In one embodiment,the request is transmitted over a public portion of the network 104(e.g., the public Internet), which may itself be considered a network.

At block 5806, the client device 102 receives program code executable toimplement the first component. In one embodiment, the program code mayinclude client-side scripting executable within a network access programof the client device 102, such as a web browser. The code may beprovided in conjunction with markup language, such as HTML, renderableto present an interface of the first component on the client device 102.For example, where the request of block 5804 is an HTTP request, block5806 may correspond to receiving an HTTP response including an HTMLdocument and client-side scripting. As discussed above, the firstcomponent may enable use of the second component (e.g., on a remotesystem), and the first and second component, in conjunction, provide theapplication. For example, the first component may provide a frontendthrough which the second component—a backend—may be accessed. In oneembodiment, the first component and second component communicate over aprivate network (e.g., a private portion of the network 104). Thus,while the first component may be provided by a remote system (e.g., thecloud-based hosting system 4910), that remote system is not required insome embodiments to have the capability of accessing the secondcomponent.

At block 5808, the first component (e.g., during execution on the clientdevice 102) determines a version of a second component. In oneembodiment, the first component may query the second component forversion information of the second component. For example, the firstcomponent may transmit an HTTP request to the second component to returnversion information of the second component, and receive in response anindication of a version of the second component. The informationreceived from the second component may additionally include versioninginformation for other elements used by the second component. Forexample, where the second component is an on-premises component 4932,the versioning information may include a version of the data intake andquery system 108.

In some instances, querying of the second component may be facilitatedby a pre-existing connection between the client device 102 and thesecond component. For example, the client device 102 may have attemptedto access the second component directly, and have been instructed toobtain and execute the first component (e.g., by loading an embeddedelement in a web page). Where a connection to the second component ismaintained (e.g., as a parent window to an iframe element), the firstcomponent may transmit a query to the second component through thatconnection. For example, the first component may utilize client-sidescripting to submit the request to a parent window of an iframe element.Utilization of a pre-existing connection may beneficially enablequerying of the second component without requiring modification ofnetwork security for the second component (e.g., modification offirewall rules). In addition, utilization of a pre-existing connectionmay beneficially negate the need for a first component to obtainaddressing information for the second component. Specifically, becausethe first component may address the second component through apre-existing connection of the client device 102, the first componentmay not be required to locate a network address of the second component.In this manner, the first component is not required to “discover” thesecond component on the network.

At block 5810, the first component adjusts its functionality to maintaincompatibility with the second component, based on the versioninginformation obtained regarding a version of the second component (andpotentially other elements used by the second component in providingfunctionality of the application). Illustratively, code of the firstcomponent may include one or more functions that are designated asrequiring at least a minimum version of the second component (or otherelements used by the second component). Thus, the first component mayidentify these functions and, if the second component (or other element)does not meet the minimum version requirement, disable the correspondingfunctionality to maintain compatibility with the second component. Insome instances, the functionality may be replaced with a notificationthat the functionality has been disabled, and/or an invitation to updatethe second component to a newer version. Accordingly, by operation ofthe routine 5800, functionality of the application may be modified byproviding different versions of a first component, while maintainingcompatibility with various versions of a second component that may beavailable to operate in conjunction with the first component.

6.0 EFFICIENT ALERT NOTIFICATIONS FROM JOURNEY DATA

As discussed above, embodiments of the present disclosure can enable asystem (e.g., the data intake and query system 108) to analyze eventswithin raw machine data to identify instances of a journey representinga series of touchpoints between a user and one or more computingsystems. For example, the computing systems may represent anetwork-accessible service, providing functionality such as a “createaccount” process. During the create account process, a user may submitinformation in various stages, conduct various verification tasks (e.g.,completing challenge questions to validate identity, providing a uniquecode sent to an email address), select a password, and finally log in tothe service using the created account. Each step of this process mayresult in a touchpoint, as the user interacts with the service. Thisseries of steps (e.g., each an occurrence of a given type of event) candefine a journey. The particular series of touchpoints of a given usermay generally be referred to herein as an “instance” of that journey.While most instances of a journey may result in successful accountcreation, some may result in errors. Moreover, even some instances thatare successful may be frustrating to an end user. For example, an enduser may repeat a step of the journey multiple times, due tointermittent errors of the service. Thus, it can generally be desirablefor an administrator to inspect journey data to detect such undesirableinstances. However, particularly for large services, the number ofjourney instances may be too large to manually review.

To address this, embodiments of the present disclosure can enable asystem (e.g., the data intake and query system 108) to support alertsbased on journey instances, such that if one or more journey instancessatisfy criteria of an alert, a notification is sent to an administratorof the system. Such criteria may be based on a single instance, or acombination of instances. For example, an alert may be set such that anotification is sent if any single journey repeats a step more than athreshold number of times, reaches an error state step, takes athreshold amount of time between two steps, if the value of a field at agiven step exceeds a threshold value, etc. Additionally, an alert may beset such that a notification is sent if multiple journeys (e.g., athreshold number) meet any of the above criteria, or if a statisticalvalue derived from the above criteria is met for a given number orduration of journeys. For example, an alert may be set such that anotification is sent if more than n % of past journeys (the last xjourneys, journeys in the last x minutes, etc.) meet the criteria, if anaverage value of a criteria meets a given threshold (e.g., if averagenumber of steps of past journeys exceeds a value), if the statisticaldistribution of a criteria meets a given distribution threshold, etc.Alerts may additionally combine criteria according to a logicaloperator, such that a notification is generated if the value of a fieldat a given step exceeds a threshold value and a given step is repeated athreshold number of times, for example. Each alert may illustratively beassociated with a check periodicity, in which the underlying data iscompared to the alert criteria to determine if an alert state hasoccurred. If so, a notification can be sent in accordance with thealert.

One mechanism for implementing alerts is to treat each alertindependently. For example, a workflow could be designed such that foreach check period of each alert, events within the data intake and querysystem 108 could be analyzed to determine whether one or more journeyshave occurred that satisfy the criteria for the alert. This approach maybe feasible, for example, where the underlying data used to generate analert is structured. Often, querying structured data is relativelyefficient, and thus an evaluation of structured data based on multiplealert criteria could occur relatively quickly and efficiently.

However, as discussed above, journey instances can involve multiplesteps, representing multiple events obtained from multiple eventsources. These events may not be uniformly formatted, or may utilizedifferent field values to identify a single instance. Thus, generatingjourneys from raw machine data (e.g., a set of events, each eventrepresenting unstructured data) is a non-trivial operation that canconsume significant time and computing resources. Accordingly, anyattempt to directly and individually evaluate events withinunstructured, raw machine data based on multiple alert criteria wouldalso consume significant time and computing resources, potentially tothe point where such individual evaluation is not possible.

To address this, embodiments of the present disclosure relate tosupporting efficient generation of alert notifications regarding journeyinstances found in unstructured, raw machine data. Specifically, asopposed to attempting to directly and individually evaluate eventswithin unstructured, raw machine data based on multiple alert criteria,embodiments of the present disclosure can support the periodicidentification of journey instances within unstructured, raw machinedata, and storage of such journey instances as structured data (e.g.,such that each journey instance corresponds to data of a defined format,such as a class object with corresponding fields or variables). Thestructured data representing journey instances can then be evaluatedaccording to alert criteria, to determine whether an alert state exists.Notably, because a single set of structured data is used to supportevaluation of multiple alert criteria, the problems of inefficiency inthe identification of journey instances from unstructured, raw machinedata are minimized.

A potential downside of this approach is that it may not be possible torestrict the inspection of unstructured machine data on aper-alert-criteria basis. For example, if each alert criteria wasdirectly compared with unstructured machine data, it may be possible toquery for only events within the raw data that might satisfy thecriteria. Illustratively, if an alert were based on an instance meetinga threshold duration between two events of two given types, it may bepossible to restrict a query to the unstructured machine data to eventsof the two given types, speeding the query relative to a query for allevents potentially relevant to a defined journey. While such restrictionmay be beneficial to an individual query, an outcome of attempting touse alert-scoped queries is that the results of such query apply only tothe individual alert being evaluated, and additional queries must besubmitted for each other potential alert. Because the computingresources used to conduct queries against raw machine data can be ordersof magnitude larger than the resources used to conduct evaluations ofstructured data, generating a non-alert-scope structured data set of alljourney instances reflected in unstructured data, and evaluating thatstructured data set according to multiple alert criteria can result inefficient alert notifications based on the journey instances in theunstructured data.

6.1 Example User Interfaces for Requesting Alert Notification

With reference to FIGS. 59-61 illustrative interfaces for requestingnotifications based on journey instances in unstructured data will bedescribed. Specifically, the interface 5900 of FIG. 59 depicts anillustrative interface for specifying a “filter” to identify specificjourney instances, from a number of potential journey instances, forwhich an alert should be created. For example, a filter may be used todetect journey instances including specific steps, having specifiedattributes, taking a given amount of time, etc. The interface 6000 ofFIG. 60 depicts an illustrative interface for specifying a magnitude offiltered journey instances necessary to cause an alert state, resultingin a notification. For example, the magnitude may specify that if agiven number or percentage of journey instances match the filter, thenan alert state has been reached. The interface 6100 of FIG. 61 depictsan illustrative interface for reviewing journey instances matching afilter, such as to review those journey instances that caused an alertstate. The interfaces of FIGS. 59-61 may illustratively be generated bythe data intake and query system 108 to facilitate inspection ofunstructured machine data.

As noted above, the interface 5900 of FIG. 59 depicts an illustrativeinterface for specifying a “filter” to identify specific journeyinstances, from a number of potential journey instances, for which analert should be created. In FIG. 59 , it is assumed that a journey haspreviously been defined by a user, as discussed above. The journey isillustratively depicted in element 3902, and includes a number of steps,each of which represent touchpoints with an illustrative service (e.g.,a shopping system or the like). As shown in FIG. 59 , a variety ofdifferent paths may be taken through the journey, reflecting the uniqueinteractions of each user. Some paths may represent expected orunproblematic user experiences, while other paths may representproblematic or undesirable experiences. The interface 5900 thereforeincludes a filter panel 5910 enabling specification of criteria ofindividual journey instances, such that an end user may better identifypotentially problematic journey instances.

Specifically, the filter panel 5910 enables specification of journeyinstance criteria including: clusters of steps within instances,attributes of instances, steps within instances, duration of a journeyinstance, duration of a sub-path within a journey instance, anoccurrence of a specific step (or steps) within an instance, start timeof an instance, stop time of the instance, start and end steps of aninstance, and a particular ordering of steps within an instance (e.g., afirst step “followed by” a second step), each of which is discussed inmore detail below. While the interface provides examples of journeyinstance criteria, others may be included.

More specifically, panel object 5912 can enable a user to specify, as acriterion for a filter, a particular cluster of steps included withinjourney instances. Clusters of steps are discussed in more detail abovewith respect to FIGS. 40A-40B. Selection of the panel object 5912illustratively results in display of an interface depicting commonclusters of journey instances within past data, which may be similar tothe summarization control area 3912 of FIG. 40A. By selection of one ormore clusters, a filter may be modified such that it includes onlyinstances conforming to at least one selected cluster.

Somewhat similarly, panel object 5914 can enable a user to specify, as acriterion for the filter, one or more attributes of matching journeyinstances. Attributes of journey instances are discussed above, such aswith respect to FIG. 37B. As noted above, an attribute can reflect, forexample, a field value of an event corresponding to a step of thejourney instance. Expansion of the panel object 5914 can thereforeresult in a listing of potential attributes of journey instances (e.g.,“item_type”, “location_id,” etc.). Each attribute is illustrativelyselectable to specify values for that attribute that should match thefilter. For example, selection of input 5932, corresponding to the“item_type” attribute, can result in display of two values for theattribute found within journey instances otherwise matching the filter,shown in FIG. 59 as “type_A” and “type_B.” Each attribute value isillustratively selectable to add to the filter a criteria specifyingthat matching instances must have an attribute value among the selectedvalues. For example, in FIG. 59 , selection of input 5934 (correspondingto the “type_A” value) and deselection of input 5936 can result in onlyinstances with a “item_type” value of “type_A” matching the filter.

Panel object 5916 can enable a user to specify, as a criterion for thefilter, one or more steps of matching journey instances. Illustratively,selection of the object can result in a listing of the potential stepsof journey instances (e.g., all steps of the journey), each of which maybe selected to either specify that the step must be included in aninstance to match the filter or to specify that the step must not beincluded in an instance to match the filter. For example, the object5916 may expand to enable a user to specify that, to match the filter,an instance must include the “addtocart” step, but exclude the“purchase” step.

Panel object 5918 can enable a user to specify, as a criterion for thefilter, a duration of matching journey instances. Illustratively,selection of the object can result in an input enabling specification ofa duration (e.g., as a time value), as well as an operator (e.g., lessthan, greater than, equal to, etc.). Accordingly, a user may expand theobject 5918 to specify, for example, that to match a filter, an instancemust have a duration of at least n seconds.

Panel object 5920 can enable a user to specify, as a criterion for thefilter, a duration between particular steps of matching journeyinstances. Illustratively, selection of the object can result in aninput enabling specification of two potential steps of instances, and aduration (e.g., as a time value), as well as an operator (e.g., lessthan, greater than, equal to, etc.). Accordingly, a user may expand theobject 5920 to specify, for example, that to match a filter, an instancemust have a duration of at least n seconds between a first step and asecond step of the journey.

Panel object 5922 can enable a user to specify, as a criterion for thefilter, a threshold occurrence of one or more steps of matching journeyinstances. Illustratively, selection of the object can result in aninput enabling specification of one or more potential steps ofinstances, and a number of occurrences of that step (or steps) requiredto match the filter. Accordingly, a user may expand the object 5922 tospecify, for example, that to match a filter, an instance must includeat least n occurrences of a given step, or must include at least noccurrences of a specific combination of steps (e.g., step one followedby step two).

Panel object 5924 can enable a user to specify, as a criterion for thefilter, a start time of matching journey instances. In one embodiment,the start time is date-insensitive, such as a given hour and minutewithin a 24 hour period. Accordingly, a user may expand the object 5924to specify, for example, that to match a filter, an instance must beginbefore, after, exactly at, etc. a given hour and minute.

Panel object 5926 can enable a user to specify, as a criterion for thefilter, an end time of matching journey instances. In one embodiment,the end time is date-insensitive, such as a given hour and minute withina 24 hour period. Accordingly, a user may expand the object 5926 tospecify, for example, that to match a filter, an instance must endbefore, after, exactly at, etc. a given hour and minute.

Panel object 5928 can enable a user to specify, as a criterion for thefilter, one or more acceptable beginning and end steps of matchingjourney instances. Illustratively, selection of the object can result inan input listing a potential step of instances, a specification of oneor more steps as valid beginning steps of matching instances, andspecification of one or more steps as valid ending steps of matchinginstances. Accordingly, a user may expand the object 5928 to specify,for example, that to match a filter, an instance must begin with the“addtocart” step and end with the “remove” step.

Panel object 5930 can enable a user to specify, as a criterion for thefilter, a particular ordering of steps within an instance (e.g., a firststep “followed by” a second step). Illustratively, selection of theobject can result in an input enabling specification of a first step, asecond step, and a relationship between the steps (e.g., as consecutiveor non-consecutive). Accordingly, a user may expand the object 5930 tospecify, for example, that to match a filter, an instance must includethe “addtocart” step immediately prior to the “remove” step. The inputsprovided by selection of object 5930 may be similar, for example, to thetransition filters input of FIG. 41 .

Accordingly, by interaction with panel 5910, a user is enabled tospecify one or more criteria for a filter. The various criteria selectedvia the panel 5910 may be combined according to one or more logicaloperators predefined according to the interface 5900. For example, thecriteria specified within each object 5912-5930 may be combinedaccording to an “AND” operator, such that each criteria must be met foran instance to conform to the filter. As a further example, theacceptable values for an individual criterion (e.g., the acceptablevalues for the “item-type” attribute) may be combined with an “OR”operator, such that any selected value satisfies the criteria. In otherembodiments, the interface 5900 may enable a user to specify logicaloperators combining each of the criteria. Thus, the interface 5900 canenable a user to filter journey instances to identify only thoseinstances relevant to a particular analysis.

In some embodiments, the visualization of panel 3902 may reflect atotality of journey instances conforming to currently specified filtercriteria. For example, the nodes within the panel 3902 may reflect stepsof instances conforming to a current filter, and the interconnectionsbetween nodes may represent transitions between those steps. In somecases, the interconnections or nodes may be colored, shaded, orotherwise altered to reflect attributes of instances represented bythose nodes or interconnections. For example, nodes or interconnectionsmay be shaded such that more common nodes or interconnections arerepresented with higher opacity than less common nodes orinterconnections. Thus, interaction with the panel 5910 can enable auser to interact with a journey to determine, for a past period of time,potentially undesirable instances.

In addition to detecting potentially undesirable past journey instances,the interface 5900 can enable a user to save a filter, such that thefilter can later be reapplied to journey instances (e.g., at a laterpoint in time, potentially after new instances exist). Specifically, theinterface includes input 5938, which displays a name of a current filterand is selectable to show a menu 5942 of saved filters. Each filteridentified in the menu 5942 is illustratively selectable to apply thefilter to the interface 5900, thus modifying the selections of panel5910 and the instances shown in the panel 3902 in accordance with theselected filter's criteria.

In addition, the menu 5942 includes elements 5944 selectable to create anew filter, save a current filter, save the current filter as a specificfilter, edit aspects of the current filter, or delete the currentfilter. An example interface 6000 for editing aspects of a filter, whichmay be reached for example by selection of the “save as” or “edit”elements of the menu 5932, is shown in FIG. 60 .

Specifically, the interface 6000 of FIG. 60 differs from the interface5900 by inclusion of the filter editing panel 6002. The panel 6002illustratively includes an input 6004 enabling specification of a namefor the filter, as well as a listing 6006 of the criteria forming thefilter. Individual criteria may be selected from the listing 6006 to,for example, remove the criteria from the filter.

In addition, the panel 6002 includes a notification portion 6008,enabling a user to request a notification when instances conforming tothe filter reach a specified threshold, which is generally referred toherein as an “alert state” (e.g., a state of events within underlyingraw machine data that, when processed as journeys and filtered accordingto the filter criteria, reaches the specified threshold such that analert should be provided to a specified user). The combination of filtercriteria (e.g., criteria defining certain journey instances from among aset of instances) and notification criteria (e.g., criteria defining athreshold for when an aggregate of the instances conforming to thefilter criteria require a notification) is generally referred to hereinas alert state criteria.

To enable creation of an alert state, the portion 6008 includes a nameinput 6010 for the alert state, such that a user can distinguishdifferent states. In the illustration of FIG. 60 , the alert state isnamed “Canceled Orders>250,” indicating that a notification should besent if canceled orders (a particular type of journey instance definedby the filter specified, e.g., via the interface 5900) in a given hourexceed 250. The portion 6008 further includes a frequency input 6012,which illustratively defines how often a search of raw machine datashould be conducted to construct journey instances, filter instancesaccording to the filter criteria and evaluate those instances accordingto the notification criteria. The frequency further illustrativelydefines the period over which instances should be constructed, such thatevent data over the frequency period (e.g., a past hour) is queried toconstruct instances. However, the period over which instances should beconstructed may also be separately specified.

Still further, the portion 6008 includes a threshold input 6014,enabling specification of a threshold value defining a threshold forwhen an aggregate of the instances conforming to the filter criteriarequire a notification. In the example of FIG. 60 , the threshold is anabsolute value, such that if an absolute number of instances over thepast period meet the value, an alert state is entered and a notificationis sent. In another embodiment, the threshold may be a relative value,such that if a relative number (e.g., a percentage) of instances overthe past period meet the value, an alert state is entered and anotification is sent. The input 6014 further enables a comparisonoperator for the threshold, such as the number of instances beinggreater than, less than, equal to the value, etc.

In addition to the above, the portion 6008 includes inputs 6016 and6018, enabling specification of a severity level for the alert state anda destination for a notification, respectively. While input 6018 isshown in FIG. 60 as including an email address, notifications may besent via any of a variety of channels known in the art, such as textmessage, instance message, transmission of a notification to a streamingdata system, etc. Illustratively, the destination field may enablespecification of a URI associated with a destination system to which thenotification should be sent.

While FIG. 60 depicts a single portion 6008 corresponding to a singlenotification, the panel 6002 further includes an element 6020 selectableto create additional notifications. Selection of the element 6020 mayresult, for example, in the inclusion of an additional portion 6008 tothe panel 6002. After specification of inputs within the panel 6002, auser may select the save button 6022 to save the filter and associatednotifications. Thereafter, the system providing the interface (e.g., thesystem 108) can periodically construct journey instances from underlyingmachine data and determine if those instances indicate an alert state.If so, a notification can be sent in accordance with the informationspecified in panel 6002, enabling a user to remain aware of eventsreflected within underlying machine data.

With reference to FIG. 61 , an illustrative interface 6100 for reviewingnotifications of alert states will be described. The interface 6100 maybe reached, for example, based on a link or URI included within anotification of an alert state, or by other interaction with theinterface 6100 (e.g., selection of icon 6102). The interface 6100 isshown as relating to an individual alert state, “Cancelled orders>250.”However, similar interfaces may be provided for each alert state.

Within the interface 6100, a panel 6104 is provided that includesinformation on journey instances matching a filter corresponding to thealert state. Specifically, the panel 6104 includes a graph 6106 thatreflects, for each past period at which journey instances wereevaluated, a number of journey instances matching the filter of thealert state. The graph 6106 further includes a reference 6108indicating, within the graph 6106, a threshold value for the alertstate. Thus, by reference to the graph 6106, a user may quicklydetermine whether an alert state has been triggered at each period.While shown in FIG. 61 as a bar graph, other representations, such as aline graph, may be used.

In the interface, each bar of the graph 6106 may be selectable to show,within table 6112, details of the journey instances summarized by thebar. For example, FIG. 61 is shown with bar 6110 selected. Bar 6110indicates that 343 journey instances between 5 PM and 6 PM on Jan. 1,2020 matched a filter. Because the notification threshold for thatfilter was set at 250, a notification was transmitted. Because bar 6110is selected, the particular 343 instances are shown in the table 6112.Specifically, for each instance, an identifier of the instance is shown,along with any stitching identifiers of the instance (which, asdiscussed above, represent identifiers of events in raw machine datathat represent the journey instance), the trigger, start, and end timesof the instance, the duration of the instance, the number of steps inthe instance, and the sequence of those steps.

In one embodiment, the data shown within table 6112 is saved at eachevaluation of an alert state (e.g., whether the state is entered ornot), such that a user may quickly review instances corresponding to afilter during a given period. Further, the data saved regarding eachinstance for a given filter may represent a set of data required toquickly retrieve, from underlying raw machine data, events correspond tothe instance. This set of data may include, for example, stitchingidentifiers for the events of the instance and a start and end time ofthe instance. Because the stitching identifiers can uniquely identifyevents of the instance, a query conduct against raw machine data forevents matching a stitching identifier during the relevant time periodcan be expected to complete relatively quickly, thus enabling rapidreconstruction of an instance based on a relatively small saved set ofdata. Illustratively, each row within the table 6112 is selectable toconduct such a query and to view events corresponding to the instance ofthe row. Thus, via interaction with the interface 6110, a user isenabled to quickly review instances conforming to a filter, determinewhether an alert state for the trigger was triggered, to review journeyinstances related to the filter, and to retrieve and review event datain underlying raw machine data that correspond to such instances.

6.2 Example Routine for Efficient Detection of Alert States inUnstructured Data

As discussed above, a significant problem in enabling notification basedon journey instances is the difficulty of identifying the instanceswithin unstructured event data. For example, a process that begins withalert state criteria and then attempts to evaluate unstructured eventdata according to that criteria (e.g., by identifying journey instanceswithin the event data that correspond to a filter and evaluating thoseinstances according to notification criteria) would repeatedly incur thesignificant resource costs associated with evaluation of unstructuredevent data. Embodiments of the present disclosure address the issue byproviding for use of a single, structured data set that serves as abasis for evaluation with respect to multiple alert state criteria. Morespecifically, embodiments of the present disclosure can enable queryingunstructured event data to identify a set of journey instances within agiven time period, and generate a structured data set of the journeyinstances. That structured data set can then be evaluated according toeach of multiple sets of alert state criteria, to determine whether anyalert state has occurred. Relative to unstructured event data,evaluations of the structured data set may occur rapidly, as noconstruction of journey instances is required. Thus, use of a singlestructured data set to detect multiple alert states occurring withinunstructured data can provide much more responsive alert state detectionthan attempting to directly detect such alert states from theunstructured data.

An illustrative routine 6200 for detecting alert states occurring withinunstructured data based on use of a structured data set is representedwithin FIG. 62 . The routine 6200 may be implemented, for example, bythe data intake and query system 108. The routine 6200 begins at block6202, where the system 108 obtains multiple sets of alert state criteria(e.g., each including at least one criterion indicating a respectivealert state). Each set of alert state criteria may correspond, forexample, to filter criteria (e.g., created via the interface 5900) andnotification criteria (e.g., created via the interface 6000).

Thereafter, the routine 6214 enters loop 6214, which occurs at aperiodicity determined based on the multiple sets of alert statecriteria. Specifically, as noted above, each alert state can beassociated with a frequency, indicating how frequently event data shouldbe analyzed to determine if an alert state has been entered. To ensureevent data is evaluated at the correct frequency for each alert state,the periodicity may be determined as a minimum periodicity among thealert states. For example, if a minimum frequency among the alert statesis one hour, the loop 6214 may occur at each hour. The loop 6214 may insome embodiments be implemented as an infinite loop, and thus occur atthe determined periodicity until the system 108 is halted, or until achange in the alert state criteria occurs.

At each instance of the loop 6214, the system 108, at block 6204,queries unstructured machine data to build, from events within themachine data, journey instances. Block 6204 may be implemented, forexample, as an instance of the process 2900 of FIG. 29 or an instance ofthe process 3000 of FIG. 30 . As a result of block 6204, one or morejourney instances within the unstructured machine data are identified.

Thereafter, at block 6206, the system 108 generates a structured dataset of the journey instances. Illustratively, the structure data set mayinclude each journey instance as a distinct entry within the data set.Moreover, each entry illustratively includes sufficient information toenable determination of whether a corresponding instance matchings a setof filter criteria. For example, each entry may be associated withattributes identifying the steps in the instance (e.g., includingrepetitions of steps), a duration between each step, a begin time of theinstance, and an end time of the instance. Each entry may furtheridentify stitching identifiers of the instance, such that eventscorresponding to the instance can later be identified quickly from theunstructured event data. Illustratively, the structured event data maybe a data table, with instances represented as rows of the table andattributes of each instances represented as columns. In another example,the structured event data may be a set of data objects, each data objectcorresponding to a journey instance and having variables or fieldsidentifying attributes of the instance. The structured nature of thedata, as opposed to events whose data that do not conform to a givendata structure, enables rapid evaluation of the journey instances.

Accordingly, the routine 6200 enters loop 6212, which illustrativelyoccurs for each set of alert state criteria associated with a currentperiod. For example, where loop 6214 occurs hourly, a set of alert statecriteria with an hourly frequency would be associated with each period,a set of alert state criteria with an every-four-hours frequency wouldbe associated with one in every four periods, etc. In loop 6212, atblock 6208, the structured data set is evaluated according to each setof alert state criteria associated with a current period. For example,for each set of alert state criteria, the structured data set may befiltered according to the filter criteria to result in a set of journeyinstances complying with the filter criteria. That filtered set ofjourney instances can then be compared to notification criteria for thealert state, to determine if an alert state has occurred. Notably,because block 6208 can occur repeatedly with respect to each set ofalert state criteria, only a single structured data set is needed tosupport multiple alerts, and the computing cost required to generate thesingle structured data set (e.g., to query unstructured data and buildfrom events within that data a set of journey instances) is minimized.

Thereafter at block 6210, for each alert state determined at block 6208,a notification is transmitted to a location associated with the alertstate (e.g., as specified via the interface 6000). The notification canillustratively include a link or URI to an instance of the interface6100, such that a user can review the journey instances that contributedto the alert state. Accordingly, a user is enabled to quickly and easilyreview events contributing to potentially undesirable journey instances.

7.0 EFFICIENT STORAGE OF JOURNEY DATA

As discussed above, the data intake and query system 108 providesnumerous benefits, such as the use of flexible schemas and high dataavailability. However, it may not be well suited for storage of somedata, such as rapidly modified data, particularly where records of pastversions of the data are not desired.

One example of such data may include records of journey instances, suchas those visualized in the interface 6100 of FIG. 61 , discussed above.As discussed with respect to FIG. 61 , a query of event data may occurperiodically, such as every hour, in order to detect journey instancesreflected in that event data. However, in some cases, a journey instancemay not occur solely within a given period. For example, a user maybegin an instance within a first hour (e.g., such that an initialtouchpoint of the instance occurs in the hour), but complete theinstance in a second hour. Furthermore, it may be unclear solely fromdata within the first hour whether an instance is complete orincomplete. For example, where a journey instance begins with adding anitem to a shopping cart, it may be unclear from events within a firsthour whether a user will take further action, or has “abandoned” theitem. Thus, a significant probability may exist that a journey instancesbuilt during a first period, which instance is later known to be only apartial instance, should be replaced with a completed instance builtduring a second period. In some embodiments, the system 108 may not beconfigured to enable direct replacement of data, and instead utilizetombstoning when data is replaced. Thus, storage of partial journeyswithin the system 108 may result in excess tombstones, slowing retrievalof journey instance data and rendering such retrieval inefficient. Thisissue may be particularly problematic when the periodicity of creationfor instances (e.g., the frequency of queries against the system 108) isshort compared to the potential duration of journeys. For example, whereinstances are detected every 24 hours, but occur over durations of oneweek, roughly 85% (six sevenths) of journeys detected at each query canbe expected to be partial journeys, since each journey would be reviewedat six 24 hour periods before being completed during a seventh period.

To address these problems, embodiments of the present disclosure canstore information identifying journey instances external to the dataintake and query system 108, within the structured data store 4922. Asdiscussed above, the structured data store 4922 can be configured tostore structured data objects, such as entries within a columnartimeseries database. Because the structured data store 4922 can enableoverwriting of past data without creation of tombstones, the structureddata store 4922 can be used to store information regarding partialjourney instances, which can be overwritten at a later time withinformation regarding complete journey instances.

Illustrative interactions for efficiently storing informationidentifying journey instances (which may generally be referred to hereinas “storing journey instances” for simplicity) are shown in FIG. 63 . Asshown in FIG. 63 , the interactions begin at (1), where a client device102, which may be operated by an administrator, submits a request to thedata intake and query system 108 for cloud-based storage of journeyinstances. The system 108 therefore, at (2), transmits a request to thecloud interface 4912 to utilize cloud-based storage. In one embodiment,the data intake any query system 108 may represent a single-tenantedsystem, operated on behalf of one entity, while the cloud interface 4912may represent a part of a multi-tenanted cloud-based hosting system4910, operated on behalf of multiple entities.

At (3), the cloud interface 4912 returns a journey identifier to thesystem 108. The journey identifier can illustratively represent a uniqueidentifier for the journey, utilized to distinguish instances of thejourney from other instances of other journeys on the cloud-basedhosting system 4910 (e.g., of the same tenant or other tenants). At (4),the system 108 creates a scheduled job, instructing the system 108 toperiodically inspect the unstructured event data of the system 108 toidentify journey instances, and to submit those instances to the cloudinterface 4912 for storage. The scheduled job can illustratively occurat a client-specified periodicity, as specified, for example, in therequest to utilize cloud-based instance storage for a journey.

An instance of the scheduled job is shown in FIG. 63 as loop 6300, whichmay repeat at each of the periods of the job. Specifically, at eachinstance of the loop 6300, the system 108, at (5), queries unstructuredevent data to detect events corresponding to instances of journeyswithin the data, and to generate those instances. Interaction (5) mayrepresent, for example, as an instance of the process 2900 of FIG. 29 oran instance of the process 3000 of FIG. 30 . As discussed above, theinstances may represent complete journeys, such that no additionalevents corresponding to the journey will occur, or may represent partialjourneys, such that one or more additional events (e.g., not yet presentin the system 108) will eventually become part of the journey instance.Each instance may be represented at the system 108 by a set ofinformation useable to uniquely identify events of the instance in thesystem 108 at a later time. Illustratively, each instance may berepresented by an instance identifier, one or more stitchingidentifiers, and timing information of the instance. Illustrativeinformation representing an instance is shown, for example, in table6112 of FIG. 61 .

At (6), the system 108 uploads the identified instances (e.g., theinformation representing the instances) to the interface 4912 using theidentifier. In one embodiment, the instances are uploaded using asecure, encrypted connection between the system 108 and the cloudinterface 4912, such as a Transport Security Layer (TLS)-compliant HTTPconnection. While shown in FIG. 63 as a single interaction, in someinstances the system 108 may utilize multiple connections to transmitthe instances. For example, the system 108 may utilize a multi-partupload functionality of the interface 4912 to transfer the instancesover multiple connections. Multiple connections may be beneficial, forexample, where the information representing the instances is large(e.g., gigabytes or more).

At (7), the cloud interface 4912 stores the instances within theinformation objects data store 4918, and at (8), notifies the structureddata store 4922 of the new instance data stored within the informationobjects data store 4918. While FIG. 63 depicts storage of instance datain the information objects data store 4918 prior to notifying thestructured data store 4922 of the data (e.g., because the store 4918 maybe configured for high resiliency storage), in some embodiments theinterface 4912 may submit instance data directly to the structured datastore 4922.

Thereafter, at (9), the structured data store 4922 retrieves theinstance data from the objects data store 4918 and, at (10), stores thenew instance data within the structured data store 4922. Storing mayinclude, for example, creating entries within a columnar timeseriesdatabase representing each instances representing in the new instancedata. More specifically, storing may include storing any new partialjourney instances within the store 4922, and replacing any prior partialjourney instances within the store 4922 with updated versions of thosejourney instances, which may represent complete journey instances. Forexample, where the new instance data represents instances detectedwithin the system 108 over a particular time range (e.g., a seven dayperiod), the structured data store 4922 may overwrite prior data withinthe store 4922 for that time range with the new data. Each entry withinthe store 4922 illustratively corresponds to an instance, with columnsin the store representing attributes of the instance (e.g., as shown inthe table 6112 of FIG. 61 . Because overwriting can result in a “clean”replacement of prior partial instance data with newer, more completeinstance data, use of the structured data store 4922 can enable moreefficient storage of instance data than storage directly within thesystem 108. The interactions of loop 6300 may then be repeated at eachperiod.

Thereafter, the data within the structured data store 4922 may be usedto provide information on instances—reflecting events within underlyingstructured event data of the system 108—to a client device 102. Forexample, the data within the structured data store 4922 may be queriedto generate the interface 6100 of FIG. 61 . In some embodiments, theclient device 102 may be configured to retrieve the information from thestructured data store 4922 transparently to an end user of the device102. For example, the device 102 may access the information via anon-premises network object 5304 (e.g., a web page provided by the system108) or may utilize a cloud-provided component 5302, either of which mayinstruct the device 102 to retrieve instance data from the store 4922,rather than the system 108. For example, a web page provided by thesystem 108 may include a URI of the cloud interface 4912, such thatqueries regarding journey instances are directed to the interface 4912rather than the system 108.

Illustrative interactions for retrieving instance information from thestructured data store 4922 via the cloud interface 4912 are shown inFIG. 64 . Specifically, as shown in FIG. 64 , a client device 102, at(1), obtains a request for journey instance data. Illustratively, thedevice 102 may receive user input to obtain a particular set of instancedata, such as input to load the interface 6100 of FIG. 61 . At (2), thedevice 102 detects cloud-based storage of the requested instance data.Illustratively, an on-premises network object 5304 or cloud-providedcomponent 5302 on the device 102 may indicate particular journeys forwhich data is stored at the cloud-based hosting system 4910, rather thanthe system 108. Accordingly, at (3), the client device 102 requests fromthe cloud interface 4912 the journey instance data. In one embodiment,the client device 102 may authenticate to the cloud interface 4912 usinga token provided by the system 108, as discussed above. Accordingly, theinterface 4912 may authenticate the device 102 as having permission toaccess the instance data.

Thereafter, at (4), the cloud interface 4912 queries the structured datastore 4922 for the journey instance data. In one embodiment, theinterface 4912 may utilize multiple queries to the store 4922, in orderto translate between a format of requests by the client device 102 and aformat of requests to the store 4922. For example, the interface 4912may provide an API to the client device 102 over which a particular APIcall is received, and the interface 4912 may be configured to make oneor more database queries to the store 4922 corresponding to the APIcall.

On receiving the one or more queries, the store 4922 obtains resultsfrom the structured data set corresponding to the queries.Illustratively, where a query is for instances within a given timerange, the store 4922 may inspect the structured data set for entrieswithin the time range, and return data identifying those entries to theinterface 4912. Notably, queries to the structured data set may beexpected to complete more quickly than queries to an unstructured dataset, thus providing increased efficiency relative to querying the system108 for journey instances. On obtaining results from the structured dataset, the interface 4912 then, at (7), returns the results to the device102, which outputs the results at (8). Thus, the device 102 may obtainfrom the structured data store 4922 instance information, in a mannerpotentially transparent to an end user.

With reference to FIG. 65 , an illustrative routine 6500 for efficientstorage and retrieval of journey instance data reflecting journeyinstances in unstructured event data will be described. The routine maybe implemented, for example, by the cloud-based hosting system 4910(e.g., the cloud interface 4912) in conjunction with a data intake andquery system 108.

As show in FIG. 65 , the routine 6500 begins at block 6504, where thesystem 4910 obtains instance data generated from querying unstructuredevent data, the instance data including data reflecting partial andcomplete journey instances. The instance data is illustrativelygenerated by the data intake and query system 108, such as byimplementation of the process 2900 of FIG. 29 or the process 3000 ofFIG. 30 . As discussed above, generation of instance data may includedetecting events within unstructured event data, reflecting touchpointsof a user journey, and correlating such events based on identifierswithin the events. Generation of instance data may be expected to be arelatively resource intensive process, and thus may occur onlyperiodically (e.g., every 24 hours). Moreover, it may be difficult orimpossible from event data to determine whether an instance hascompleted, or whether additional events in the instance may occur at alater time. Thus, within each set of instance data, one or more completeinstances can be reflected as well as one or more partial journeyinstances. When the periodicity of instance data generation is shortrelative to the average duration of a journey instance, it is expectedthat a majority of the instances reflected in each set of generatedinstance data are partial instances.

On receiving instance data, the system 4910 at block 6506 updates astructured data set (e.g., within the store 4922) with the instancedata, including replacing prior partial data regarding an instance withupdated data regarding that instance (e.g., complete data). In oneembodiment, the structured data set is a columnar timeseries data set,with individual entries being associated with a timestamp, such as thetime that the journey began (in addition to other data, such as ajourney identifier). In one embodiment, because new instance data isexpected to include and expand on prior instance data for the timeframereflected in the instance data, updating the structured data set mayinclude overwriting all prior data for the timeframe with new instancedata. For example, where a journey duration is seven days, eachgeneration of instance data may query for events within the past sevendays. Where detection of instances occurs every 24 hours, the datagenerated at each period may overlap with prior data by 6 days. Thus,updating the structured data set may include overwriting a past 6 daysof data, and adding a new day of data to the set. Beneficially,overwriting data in this manner may occur quickly, as a timeseries datastore may be optimized to conduct time-based modifications, and noinspection of non-time-based data of an entry (e.g., an instanceidentifier) is required. In other embodiments, updating the data set mayinclude inspection and replacement of individual entries, such as byreplacing entries of a given instance identifier with corresponding datafrom the obtained instance data. In some instances, updating the dataset may completely replace prior data, without generation of tombstonesor other reflections of deletion. While complete overwriting of data mayreduce changes of data loss, this downside is mitigated by theresiliency of the system 108 against data loss. In other words, becausethe structured data set may be used only to reflect data derived fromthe system 108, data loss in the structured data set can be expected tobe minimally disruptive, as such data can be replaced based on queryingof the system 108.

Blocks 6504 and 6506 of the routine 6500 may illustratively be repeated,as reflected by loop 6514, as new instance data is generated by thesystem 108. For example, the loop 6514 may occur at each periodicity ofa scheduled job created on the system 108 based on user request forcloud-based instance storage.

Thereafter, at block 6508, the system 4910 obtains a request for journeyinstance data. The request may be received, for example, from a clientdevice 102, based on interaction with an access program 4902. Forexample, the request may be generated by loading the interface 6100 ofFIG. 61 , or selecting a bar within the graph 6106, thus generating arequest for data of journey instances reflected in the bar.

In response, at block 6510, the system 4910 queries the structured dataset for the instance data relevant to the request. Illustratively, therequest may specify criteria for the relevant journey instances, such asa time range and journey identifier. The system 4910 may thus translatethe request into one or more queries to the structured data set (e.g.,based on predefined queries corresponding to a particular API callthrough with the request was received). For example, the system 4910 mayquery the data set for instances associated with the journey identifierand the time range. Journey instance data based on the query results isthen returned in response to the request for output to a client, atblock 6512.

In contrast to queries to an unstructured data set, queries to thestructured data set can be expected to be relatively resource efficient.Thus, retrieval of instance data from the structure set can be expectedto complete more quickly and efficiently than retrieval of instance datafrom the system 108. While the structured nature of the data set mayimpose some limits in the data that can be obtained (or therepresentation of that data), these limits are mitigated by maintainingunderlying events of instances within the system 108. Thus, acombination of an unstructured data set and a structured data set can beused to provide the advantages of each, while also overcoming therelevant deficiencies of both storage formats.

8.0 Fragmented Upload and Re-Stitching of Journey Data

As discussed above, the data intake and query system 108 providesnumerous benefits, such as the use of flexible schemas and high dataavailability. However, the data intake and query system 108 may not bewell suited for certain tasks related to records of journey instances.For example, the amount of data ingested or otherwise processed by thedata intake and query system 108 may be quite large (e.g., terabytes,petabytes, exabytes, etc.). The data intake and query system 108,however, may have a finite amount of computing resources (e.g.,processing capabilities, memory storage capacity, network bandwidth,etc.) available to process this data. The limited computing resourcesmay negatively affect the speed and efficiency at which the data intakeand query system 108 can build journey instances given the large amountof data that may be processed.

On the other hand, the cloud-based hosting system 4910 (e.g., the cloudcomponent interface 4912) may have access to additional computingresources that can be allocated automatically and/or on-demand whenbuilding journey instances. For example, the cloud component interface4912 can be implemented as a virtual computing device within a hostedcomputing environment, which may include a variety of physical hostcomputing devices configured to rapidly allocate virtual computingdevices and/or virtual computing resources to enable journey instancebuilding. Thus, the cloud-based hosting system 4910 may be better suitedto build journey instances. Accordingly, the data intake and querysystem 108 can upload event data to the cloud-based hosting system 4910to allow the cloud-based hosting system 4910 to build journey instances.

Uploading event data to the cloud-based hosting system 4910 canintroduce other performance issues, however. For example, requests forjourney instances may be received periodically, such as every hour,every day, etc. As mentioned above, building a journey instance mayinvolve processing a large amount of data. Uploading this large amountof data each time a journey instance is requested can take a significantamount of time, especially if network bandwidth is limited. In somecases, the data intake and query system 108 may upload just enough eventdata to cover the time period during which a requested journey instancemay occur. For example, if requests for journey instances occur everyday and a journey instance can occur over a 2 day period, then the dataintake and query system 108 can upload event data for the current period(e.g., the past day of event data), event data for a previous period(e.g., event data for a 1 day period before the current period), and/orevent data for a next period (e.g., event data for a 1 day period afterthe current period). Even in these cases, the amount of datacorresponding to the 2-3 day period may be large enough to causeprocessing delays due to the upload time.

Accordingly, the data intake and query system 108 can upload event datato the cloud-based hosting system 4910 at regular time intervals, suchas every hour, every day, every week, etc. For example, instead ofuploading the event data all at once (e.g., upon receipt of a requestfor a journey instance), the data intake and query system 108 can uploadthe event data in regular time intervals. In particular, the data intakeand query system 108 can periodically upload fragments of the eventdata, where the event data in a fragment correspond to a particular timeperiod (e.g., an hour period, a day period, a week period, etc.). Insome cases, the regular upload interval may correspond to the frequencyat which requests for journey instances are typically received. When anupload occurs, the cloud-based hosting system 4910 can store theuploaded event data in the information objects data store 4918.

Given the availability of additional computing resources, it may bepossible for the cloud-based hosting system 4910 to use a distributedprocessing system to build the journey instances. Thus, the cloud-basedhosting system 4910 can take advantage of a distributed processingarchitecture to reduce journey instance building times. The content ofthe event data, however, makes implementing a distributed processingsystem difficult. For example, in some cases a journey instance includesa single journey identifier associated with the journey instance. Inthis case, the cloud-based hosting system 4910 can assign differentjourney identifiers to individual processing subsystems in thedistributed processing system. An individual processing subsystem canthen process the event data that includes an assigned journey identifierto build a journey instance.

In other cases, however, a journey instance includes multiple journeyidentifiers that may or may not be known. For example, a journeyinstance may include multiple journey identifiers if event datacorresponding to the journey instance is generated by disparate systems.As a result, individual events in the event data corresponding to ajourney instance may include one of the journey identifiers, some andnot all of the journey identifiers, or all of the journey identifiers.Simply assigning journey identifiers to individual processing subsystemscould result in incomplete journey instances if, for example, onejourney identifier corresponding to the journey instance is assigned toone individual processing subsystem and another journey identifiercorresponding to the journey instance is assigned to another individualprocessing subsystem. Even if all of the journey identifierscorresponding to a journey instance are assigned to the same individualprocessing subsystem, the individual processing subsystem would generateseparate journey instances for each journey identifier without having amechanism to identify and group event data that include journeyidentifiers corresponding to the same journey instance.

To address these problems, implementations of the present disclosureprovide a cloud-based distributed system for building a journeyinstance, regardless of whether the journey instance includes a singlejourney identifier or multiple journey identifiers. For example, thecloud-based hosting system 4910 can implement the cloud-baseddistributed system by receiving fragmented uploads of event data fromthe data intake and query system 108, and re-stitching portions of theuploaded event data in a distributed manner to build journey instances.

FIG. 66 is a block diagram of an example distributed event datare-stitching environment 6600, in which the cloud-based hosting system4910 can initialize or launch one or more worker nodes 6613 to re-stitchportions of uploaded data to build journey instances. A worker node 6613may also be referred to herein as a “worker process.” As shown in FIG.66 , the environment 6600 includes the client device 102, thecloud-based hosting system 4910, the private environment 4930, and thecloud-based data intake and query system 1006, all interconnected viathe network 104.

As described herein, the cloud interface 4912 of the cloud-based hostingsystem 4910 can receive, via the network 104, event data uploaded by thedata intake and query system 108 and/or the cloud-based data intake andquery system 1006. For example, the data intake and query system 108and/or the cloud-based data intake and query system 1006 can uploadevent data periodically, such as at regular intervals (e.g., every hour,every day, every week, etc.). In some implementations, the data intakeand query system 108 and/or the cloud-based data intake and query system1006 can upload the event data at a frequency that is similar to afrequency at which journey instances are requested.

The event data uploaded during a particular period may not represent allof the event data stored in and/or processed by the data intake andquery system 108 or the cloud-based data intake and query system 1006.Rather, the data intake and query system 108 or cloud-based data intakeand query system 1006 can upload a fragment or a portion of the eventdata during one period, upload another fragment or portion of the eventdata in a subsequent period, and so on. For example, a fragment orportion of the event data uploaded during a particular period mayinclude event data having a common characteristic, such as event dataassociated with a time that falls within a certain time period. As anillustrative example, if the upload frequency is every 24 hours, afragment or portion of the event data uploaded during a particularperiod may include event data having a timestamp value within the same24 hour period.

Upon receiving uploaded event data, the cloud interface 4912 can storethe event data in the information objects data store 4918. Thus, theinformation objects data store 4918 can store fragments or portions ofevent data uploaded during various time periods.

In some implementations, the cloud interface 4912 can initiate a journeyinstance building process. For example, the cloud interface 4912 caninitiate the journey instance building process at regular intervals,upon a request for a journey instance received from a client device 102,upon a request for a journey instance received from the data intake andquery system 108, upon a request for a journey instance received fromthe cloud-based data intake and query system 1006, upon receiving anuploaded fragment or portion of event data, and/or the like. The cloudinterface 4912 can initiate the journey building process using one ormore worker nodes 6613, which are described in greater detail below.

As described herein, the journey instance building process can run in adistributed manner. Additional details regarding the distributed journeyinstance building process are described below with respect to FIGS.67-70 .

In some implementations, upon a determination to initiate a journeyinstance building process, the cloud interface 4912 can obtain therelevant event data from the information objects data store 4918. Forexample, a user may specify a lookback window that defines the maximumtime period by which a journey instance may span. If the cloud interface4912 determines to build one or more journey instances based on arecently uploaded fragment of event data, the cloud interface 4912 canretrieve from the information objects data store 4918 event data that,when combined with the recently uploaded fragment of event data, spansthe user-specified lookback window. In other words, the cloud interface4912 can retrieve enough event data from the information objects datastore 4918 such that a complete journey instance can be formed. As anillustrative example, if the recently uploaded fragment of event dataspans a 1 day time period and the user-specified lookback window is 3days, then the cloud interface 4912 can retrieve from the informationobjects data store 4918 event data that spans the 2 days prior to thetime period spanned by the recently uploaded fragment of event dataand/or event data that spans the 2 days after the time period spanned bythe recently uploaded fragment of event data.

FIG. 67 is a block diagram of the environment 6600 of FIG. 66illustrating the operations performed by the components of theenvironment 6600 to obtain event data and to launch and assign eventdata to one or more worker nodes 6613. As illustrated in FIG. 67 , thedata intake and query system 108 can upload event data corresponding toa time period to the cloud interface 4912 at (1). Alternatively, thecloud-based data intake and query system 1006 can upload event datacorresponding to the time period to the cloud interface 4912. Event datamay correspond to the time period if the event data includes a timestampfalling within the time period. For example, a time period can be aparticular hour of a particular day, a particular 24 hour period, aparticular week, etc. The data intake and query system 108 and/or thecloud-based data intake and query system 1006 can repeat this operationfor various fragments of event data that each correspond to a particulartime period (e.g., a particular hour of a particular day, a particular24 hour period, a particular week, etc.). The intervals at which eventdata is uploaded can be user-specified, such as an hour, a day, a week,etc.

Upon determining to initiate a journey instance building process (suchas when the event data is uploaded at (1)), the cloud interface 4912 canretrieve from the information objects data store 4918 additional eventdata corresponding to a user-specified lookback window at (2). Forexample, the cloud interface 4912 can retrieve additional event datafrom the information objects data store 4918 such that the additionalevent data, when combined with the event data uploaded at (1), spans theuser-specified lookback window. In some implementations, the additionalevent data and the event data uploaded at (1) together may be all of theevent data present for the time period covered by the user-specifiedlookback window. Alternatively, the cloud interface 4912 may notretrieve any additional event data from the information objects datastore 4918, such as if the time period to which the uploaded event datacorresponds spans the user-specified lookback window.

Before, during, and/or after retrieving the additional event data, thecloud interface 4912 can launch or initialize one or more worker nodes6613 that are each configured to build one or more journey instances at(3). A worker node 6613 may be a virtual computing device within ahosted computing environment provided by the cloud-based hosting system4910, where the hosted computing environment may include a variety ofphysical host computing devices configured to rapidly implement thevirtual computing devices that form the worker node(s) 6613. Thus, theworker node(s) 6613 may not be static computing resources. Rather, thecloud interface 4912 may allocate virtual computing resources to formthe worker node(s) 6613 when journey instances are to be built.Similarly, the cloud interface 4912 can deallocate the virtual computingresources (e.g., delete the worker node(s) 6613) when the journeyinstance building process is complete. Alternatively, a worker node 6613can be a physical computing device present within the cloud-basedhosting system 4910.

The cloud interface 4912 can launch any number of worker nodes 6613(e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc.). For ease of illustrationand explanation, FIG. 67 depicts N worker nodes 6613 being launched andFIGS. 68-70 depict 3 worker nodes 6613 being launched. This is not meantto be limiting, however, as the cloud interface 4912 can launch anynumber of worker nodes 6613 (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc.).The number of worker nodes 6613 that are launched may depend on theavailable physical and/or virtual computing resources, the size of theevent data to be processed, the number of journey instances to build,the number of journey identifiers per journey instance, and/or the like.

While the worker node(s) 6613 are depicted in FIGS. 66 and 67 as beingexternal to the cloud interface 4912, this is not meant to be limiting.For example, some or all of the worker node(s) 6613 may be internal tothe cloud interface 4912.

Once the worker node(s) 6613 are initialized, the cloud interface 4912may provide to each worker node 6613 a configmap or other related datathat informs each worker node 6613 of the other worker node(s) 6613present in the environment 6600. The cloud interface 4912 can alsoassign a portion of the combined event data (e.g., the event datauploaded at (1) and the additional event data retrieved from theinformation objects data store 4918) to the worker node(s) 6613. Forexample, the cloud interface 4912 can transmit a first portion of thecombined event data to the worker node 6613-1 at (4-1), can transmit asecond portion of the combined event data to the worker node 6613-2 at(4-2), can transmit a third portion of the combined event data to theworker node 6613-3 at (4-3), can transmit an Nth portion of the combinedevent data to the worker node 6613-N at (4-N), and so on. The cloudinterface 4912 can transmit the various portions of the combined eventdata simultaneously, in sequence, or overlapping time.

In some implementations, the cloud interface 4912 randomly assigns aportion of the combined event data to each worker node 6613. Forexample, the cloud interface 4912 can divide the combined event datainto N portions without evaluating the content of the combined eventdata, and send each portion to a worker node 6613. The cloud interface4912 can divide the combined event data into N portions based on size(e.g., create N equal or nearly equal sized portions), based on time(e.g., create N portions that each cover 1/N of the user-specifiedlookback window), and/or the like.

Before, during, and/or after assigning and transmitting the event dataportions to the worker node(s) 6613, the cloud interface 4912 can polleach worker node 6613 to determine whether the respective worker node6613 is ready to begin the journey instance building process. If eachworker node 6613 indicates that the respective worker node 6613 is readyto begin the journey instance building process, then the cloud interface4912 can instruct the worker node(s) 6613 to proceed. As a result, theworker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-N can each group and partition theevent data at (5-1), (5-2), (5-3), and (5-N), respectively. Aftergrouping and partitioning the event data, the worker nodes 6613-1through 6613-N can each generate one or more journey instances at (6-1),(6-2), (6-3), and (6-N), respectively. The grouping, partitioning, andjourney instance generating operations are described in greater detailbelow with respect to FIGS. 68-70 .

Each worker node 6613 may be in charge of building one or more journeyinstances based on event data that includes the journey identifier(s)associated with the assigned journey instance(s). Because the cloudinterface 4912 may randomly assign portions of the combined event datato the worker node(s) 6613, however, each worker node 6613 may notinitially be assigned the event data necessary to properly build anassigned journey instance. In other words, one worker node 6613 may bein charge of building a journey instance for a journey represented byone or more journey identifiers, but the cloud interface 4912 may haveinitially assigned some of the event data comprising the journeyidentifier(s) to another worker node 6613. Thus, the worker node(s) 6613can work in tandem to identify event data corresponding to a journeyinstance and reassign the event data such that each worker node 6613 hasaccess to the event data needed to properly build an assigned journeyinstance. The process of identifying event data corresponding to ajourney instance and reassigning the event data is also referred toherein as grouping and partitioning the event data. The worker node(s)6613 can perform operations in three phases to identify event datacorresponding to a journey instance and reassign the event data.

FIG. 68 is a block diagram of the environment 6600 of FIG. 66illustrating the operations performed by the components of theenvironment 6600 to create vertices for various journey identifiers. Inparticular, the operations depicted in FIG. 68 may be performed duringthe first of the three phases to identify event data corresponding to ajourney instance and reassign the event data. The worker node(s) 6613can begin the depicted operations after receiving the portions of thecombined event data from the cloud interface 4912. As used herein, ajourney identifier may also be referred to as a “correlation identifier”or a “correlation ID.” The correlation identifier or correlation ID canbe the value of any data field, such as a user ID field, a shipment IDfield, an order ID field, etc.

The portion of the combined event data received by a worker node 6613may include one or more rows of event data, where the event data in arow may include one or more correlation identifiers. For example, theevent data in each row may only include a single correlation identifierif each journey instance is associated with a single correlationidentifier. However, the event data in a row may, but does not always,include multiple correlation identifiers if at least one journeyinstance is associated with multiple correlation identifiers. In somecases, the event data in one row may include a first correlationidentifier that identifies a journey instance, the event data in asecond row may include the first correlation identifier and a secondcorrelation identifier that both identify the journey instance, and theevent data in a third row may include the second correlation identifier.Thus, while it may not be apparent when reviewing the event data in thefirst row or the third row, the event data in the three rows all relateto the same journey instance. As is described herein, the worker node(s)6613 can use the event data in the second row to group the event data inthe three rows to allow one of the worker node(s) 6613 to build ajourney instance using the event data in the three rows. FIG. 68 depictsthe operations that are performed during a first pass of the rows ofevent data to eventually perform the grouping.

As illustrated in FIG. 68 , the worker node 6613-1 can generate a tuplefor each correlation identifier in each row of the first portion of thecombined event data at (1A). Similarly, the worker node 6613-2 cangenerate a tuple for each correlation identifier in each row of thesecond portion of the combined event data at (2A), and the worker node6613-3 can generate a tuple for each correlation identifier in each rowof the third portion of the combined event data at (3A). The tuplegeneration can occur simultaneously, in any sequence, or overlapping intime. In other words, each worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 can parsethrough the received rows of event data and, for each row and for eachcorrelation identifier included in the event data in the respective row,generate a tuple. For example, for each row of event data, each workernode 6613-1 through 6613-3 can identify the minimum identifier of thecorrelation identifier(s) in the event data of the respective row. Theminimum identifier of the correlation identifier(s) in a row may be thelowest alphanumeric value of the correlation identifier(s) in the row.For each correlation identifier in a row of event data, each worker node6613-1 through 6613-3 can generate a tuple that includes the respectivecorrelation identifier, the minimum identifier, and the set ofcorrelation identifier(s) included the event data of the row. In someimplementations, the set of correlation identifier(s) included in theevent data of the row may be a data structure that identifies all of thecorrelation identifier(s) included in the event data of the row. Thetuple can be in the following format: (correlation identifier, minimumidentifier, set of correlation identifier(s)). Thus, each worker node6613-1 through 6613-3 may generate a set of tuples, one for eachcorrelation identifier in the event data of each row.

The worker node 6613-1 can then transmit at least some of the tuple(s)generated by the worker node 6613-1 to the worker node 6613-2 at (2A)and/or at least some of the tuple(s) generated by the worker node 6613-1to the worker node 6613-3 at (2B). Similarly, the worker node 6613-2 cantransmit at least some of the tuple(s) generated by the worker node6613-2 to the worker node 6613-1 at (2C) and/or at least some of thetuple(s) generated by the worker node 6613-2 to the worker node 6613-3at (2D), and the worker node 6613-3 can transmit at least some of thetuple(s) generated by the worker node 6613-3 to the worker node 6613-2at (2E) and/or at least some of the tuple(s) generated by the workernode 6613-3 to the worker node 6613-1 at (2F). The transmissions canoccur simultaneously, in any sequence, or overlapping in time. Eachworker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 can determine where to transmit agenerated tuple by performing a hash operation. For example, for eachtuple, a worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 can hash the correlationidentifier included in the tuple (e.g., hash the correlation identifierfor which the tuple was generated) to generate a hash output, take thehash output modulo the number of worker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3, andtransmit the respective tuple to the worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3identified by the output of the modulo operation (e.g., where eachworker node 6613-1 through 6613-N may be assigned a number between 0 andN−1). As an illustrative example, if three worker nodes 6613-1 through6613-3 are present, then each worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 wouldhash the correlation identifier included in a tuple to generate a hashoutput, perform a modulo operation by taking the hash output modulothree, and transmit the tuple to the worker node 6613-1 through 6613identified by the output of the modulo operation. In some cases, theoutput of the modulo operation identifies the worker node that createdthe tuple, and thus no transmission takes place.

As a result of the transmission operation, each worker node 6613-1through 6613-3 may receive zero or more tuples. The worker node 6613-1can then at (3A) create or update a vertex for each received tupleand/or for each tuple created by the worker node 6613-1 that the modulooperation identified the worker node 6613-1 as the intended recipient.Similarly, the worker node 6613-2 can at (3B) create or update a vertexfor each received tuple and/or for each tuple created by the worker node6613-2 that the modulo operation identified the worker node 6613-2 asthe intended recipient, and the worker node 6613-3 can at (3C) create orupdate a vertex for each received tuple and/or for each tuple created bythe worker node 6613-3 that the modulo operation identified the workernode 6613-3 as the intended recipient. The vertex creation or updatingcan occur simultaneously, in any sequence, or overlapping in time. Forexample, a worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 can create or update avertex for a tuple by storing the correlation identifier of the tuple asthe current identifier, by storing a minimum of the minimum identifierincluded in the tuple and a next identifier as the next identifier, andby storing a union of the set of correlation identifiers included in thetuple and a set of neighbor identifiers as the set of neighboridentifiers.

In other words, each worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 may begin forminga connected graph using information from the tuples as vertices in theconnected graph, with the set of neighbors included in each vertexidentifying the other vertex or vertices connected to the respectivevertex in the connected graph. Not all of the vertices may be connectedto each other directly or indirectly, and therefore the worker nodes6613-1 through 6613-3 may form multiple connected graphs. Each connectedgraph may include vertices that are each associated with the same ordifferent correlation identifier, but the connection of these verticesmay indicate that the associated correlation identifiers are associatedwith the same journey instance. Thus, one connected graph may includeone or more vertices having correlation identifiers corresponding to onejourney instance. However, after the first phase is complete, there maybe multiple connected graphs that are associated with the same journeyinstance. For example, as explained above, some event data may notinclude all of the correlation identifiers associated with a journeyinstance. Thus, some vertices initially may be created that do notinclude any identified neighbors or connections.

Once all of the worker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3 have finishedcreating or updating the vertices, the worker nodes 6613-1 through6613-3 can each broadcast a message to the other worker nodes indicatingthat phase one is complete.

In the second of the three phases, the worker nodes 6613-1 through6613-3 can begin to share information between and to update the verticesof a connected graph in an iterative manner that eventually allows theworker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3 to reassign the event data to theappropriate worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3. FIG. 69 is a blockdiagram of the environment 6600 of FIG. 66 illustrating the operationsperformed by the components of the environment 6600 to iterativelyupdate vertices for various journey identifiers. The operations depictedin FIG. 69 can begin after the worker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3 caneach broadcast a message to the other worker nodes indicating that phaseone is complete.

As illustrated in FIG. 69 , the worker node 6613-1 at (1A) optionallygenerates a tuple for each vertex in which a current identifier changes.Similarly, the worker node 6613-2 at (1B) optionally generates a tuplefor each vertex in which a current identifier changes, and the workernode 6613-3 at (1C) optionally generates a tuple for each vertex inwhich a current identifier changes. The worker node 6613-1 can thentransmit at least some of the tuple(s) generated by the worker node6613-1 to the worker node 6613-2 at (2A) and/or at least some of thetuple(s) generated by the worker node 6613-1 to the worker node 6613-3at (2B). Similarly, the worker node 6613-2 can transmit at least some ofthe tuple(s) generated by the worker node 6613-2 to the worker node6613-1 at (2C) and/or at least some of the tuple(s) generated by theworker node 6613-2 to the worker node 6613-3 at (2D), and the workernode 6613-3 can transmit at least some of the tuple(s) generated by theworker node 6613-3 to the worker node 6613-2 at (2E) and/or at leastsome of the tuple(s) generated by the worker node 6613-3 to the workernode 6613-1 at (2F). The tuple generation and/or transmission can occursimultaneously, in any sequence, or overlapping in time.

For example, each worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 can perform a passthrough each vertex created or updated by the respective worker node6613-1 through 6613-3. For each vertex, a worker node 6613-1 through6613-3 can set the current identifier of the respective vertex to aminimum of the current identifier of the respective vertex and the nextidentifier of the respective vertex. If the current identifier changes(e.g., the current identifier was not already equal to the nextidentifier or a minimum identifier of the correlation identifiers thatrelate to the same journey instance), then the worker node 6613-1through 6613-3, for each neighbor identifier in the set of neighboridentifiers of the respective vertex, (1) generates a tuple thatincludes the respective neighbor identifier, the new current identifier,and a null value; (2) transmits the tuple to a worker node 6613-1through 6613-3 identified by hashing the respective neighbor identifierand taking the output of the hash modulo the number of worker nodes; and(3) incrementing a counter that indicates that the current identifierchanged. The recipient of a tuple can perform the same operationsdiscussed above with respect to FIG. 68 to create or update the vertexassociated with the neighbor identifier included in the tuple. Asexplained above, the output of a modulo operation may identify theworker node that created the tuple, and thus no transmission takesplace. When all vertices have been parsed, the worker nodes 6613-1through 6613-3 can each broadcast a message to the other worker nodesindicating the vertices have been parsed and the value of the counter.

If none of the current identifiers of any of the vertices is updated(e.g., as indicated by the value of the counter being zero), then thevertices of the connected graphs are fully updated and the worker nodes6613-1 through 6613-3 can begin reassigning the event data. However, ifthe worker node 6613-1 updates the current identifier of at least onevertex (e.g., as indicated by the counter being a non-zero value), thenthe worker node 6613-1 can repeat operations (1A), (2A), and/or (2B) foreach vertex in which a current identifier changes at (3A). Similarly, ifthe worker node 6613-2 updates the current identifier of at least onevertex (e.g., as indicated by the counter being a non-zero value), thenthe worker node 6613-2 can repeat operations (1B), (2C), and/or (2D) foreach vertex in which a current identifier changes at (3B). Likewise, ifthe worker node 6613-3 updates the current identifier of at least onevertex (e.g., as indicated by the counter being a non-zero value), thenthe worker node 6613-3 can repeat operations (1C), (2E), and/or (2F) foreach vertex in which a current identifier changes at (3C). The repeatingoperations can occur simultaneously, in any sequence, or overlapping intime.

For example, the worker node(s) 6613-1 through 6613-3 may iterativelycreate and/or update the vertices until each vertex in each connectedgraph has the same value for the next identifier. In particular, eachvertex in each connected graph should have a value of the nextidentifier that is the minimum value of the all of the correlationidentifiers associated with the vertices in the respective connectedgraph. Initially when the vertices are created, each vertex may not havethe same value for the next identifier (e.g., the minimum value of allof the correlation identifiers associated with the vertices in therespective connected graph) because not all of the vertices may be awareof the other vertices in the respective connected graph. However, byiteratively parsing the vertices and generating the tuples as describedabove, the minimum value can be propagated through the vertices of therespective connected graph until all vertices have received and storedthe minimum value. Thus, while a vertex may be associated with aspecific correlation identifier, the vertex may also store informationidentifying the minimum identifier of all of the correlation identifiersassociated with the vertex's connected graph.

Once the vertices in each connected graph have stored the minimumidentifier of the respective connected graph, the worker nodes 6613-1through 6613-3 can start the third of the three phases and beginreassigning the event data, if necessary, to allow journey instances tobe built. FIG. 70 is a block diagram of the environment 6600 of FIG. 66illustrating the operations performed by the components of theenvironment 6600 to reassign event data and build or generate journeyinstances.

As illustrated in FIG. 70 , the worker node 6613-1 determines a clusterowner for each correlation identifier in each row of the first portionof the combined event data at (1A). Similarly, the worker node 6613-2determines a cluster owner for each correlation identifier in each rowof the second portion of the combined event data at (1B), and the workernode 6613-3 determines a cluster owner for each correlation identifierin each row of the third portion of the combined event data at (1C). Thecluster owner determination can occur simultaneously, in any sequence,or overlapping in time.

For example, each worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 pass through therows of the assigned event data. For each row of event data, a workernode 6613-1 through 6613-3 can take one of the correlation identifiersin the event data of the respective row, perform a hash of thecorrelation identifier, determine the output of the hash modulo thenumber of worker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3, and determine that theowner of the vertex corresponding to the correlation identifier is theworker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 identified by the output of the modulooperation. The worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 can then transmit arequest to the vertex owner to return the current identifier of thevertex. As explained above, the current identifier of the vertex shouldbe the minimum value of all of the correlation identifiers associatedwith vertices in the connected graph of which the vertex is a part. Oncethe current identifier is received, the worker node 6613-1 through6613-3 can take a hash of the current identifier, determine an output ofthe hash modulo the number of worker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3, anddetermine that the owner of the cluster (e.g., the owner of theconnected graph) that includes the correlation identifier is the workernode 6613-1 through 6613-3 identified by the output of the modulooperation. In other words, the worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 maydetermine that a cluster owner is the worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3that has created a vertex for the minimum identifier.

Alternatively or in addition, a worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 canscan through some or all of the correlation identifiers in the rows ofevent data, take hashes of each of the correlation identifiers, take thehash outputs modulo the number of worker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3,and determine which correlation identifiers result in modulo operationoutputs that point to itself. For those correlation identifiers, theworker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 may not transit a request to thevertex owner to return the current identifier of the vertex given thatthe worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 itself is the vertex owner. Thus,the worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 can simply perform an internalquery to identify the current identifier and therefore skip a networkhop.

In further implementations, the worker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3 maystore current identifiers in a cache (e.g., when creating or updating avertex, the worker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3 may store the original orchanged current identifier in the cache). For example, the worker nodes6613-1 through 6613-3 can store the current identifiers in associationwith their associated correlation identifiers in the cache. Thus,instead of or in addition to sending a request to the vertex owner forthe current identifier, the worker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3 can querythe cache to identify the desired current identifier.

The cluster owner may be in charge of building or generating a journeyinstance associated with the minimum identifier. Because the vertexassociated with the minimum identifier may be connected directly orindirectly to other vertices associated with other correlationidentifiers, the minimum identifier and these other correlationidentifiers may be related and associated with the same journeyinstance. Thus, the cluster owner may use the event data that includesthese other correlation identifiers to build or generate the journeyinstance as well. The worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 can determinethe cluster owner in order to determine which worker node 6613-1 through6613-3 should receive the event data in a row so that the correspondingjourney instance can be generated or built correctly. Accordingly, theworker nodes 6613-1 through 6613-3 can determine cluster owners in orderto stitch or re-stitch event data corresponding to the same journeyinstance such that this event data can be provided to one worker node incharge of building or creating the journey instance.

Once the cluster owner(s) are determined, the worker node 6613-1 cantransmit the first portion of the combined event data to the appropriatecluster owner(s) (e.g., to the appropriate worker node 6613-2 and/or6613-3) at (2A) and (2B). Similarly, the worker node 6613-2 can transmitthe second portion of the combined event data to the appropriate clusterowner(s) (e.g., to the appropriate worker node 6613-1 and/or 6613-3) at(2C) and (2D), and the worker node 6613-3 can transmit the third portionof the combined event data to the appropriate cluster owner(s) (e.g., tothe appropriate worker node 6613-2 and/or 6613-1) at (2E) and (2F). Thetransmissions can occur simultaneously, in any sequence, or overlappingin time. In some cases, a worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 maydetermine that it is the cluster owner, and therefore no transmissionmay occur.

Once the appropriate event data is received, the worker node 6613-1 cangenerate one or more journey instance(s) using the received and/orexisting event data at (3A). Similarly, the worker node 6613-2 cangenerate one or more journey instance(s) using the received and/orexisting event data at (3B), and the worker node 6613-3 can generate oneor more journey instance(s) using the received and/or existing eventdata at (3C). The journey instance generation can occur simultaneously,in any sequence, or overlapping in time. For example, a worker node6613-1 through 6613-3 can merge and/or sort the received and/or existingevent data (e.g., by correlation identifier, by journey instance towhich an included correlation identifier is related, by time, etc.) andgenerate a journey instance using event data having correlationidentifier(s) that are related to each other and associated with thejourney instance (e.g., as indicated by the appropriate connectedgraph). In some implementations, each worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3can generate or build a journey instance by implementation of theprocess 2900 of FIG. 29 or the process 3000 of FIG. 30 .

Once a worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 finishes building the journeyinstance(s), the worker node 6613-1 through 6613-3 can broadcast amessage to the other worker nodes indicating that the journeyinstance(s) are built. Before, during, and/or after all of the workernodes 6613-1 through 6613-3 have broadcast the message, the worker nodes6613-1 through 6613-3 can each store the generated journey instances,such as in the structured data store 4922. The generated or builtjourney instance can include a summary of the journey instance, and thecloud-based hosting system 4910 can optionally cause a client device 102to display the summary of the journey instance in a user interface. Oncethe journey instances are generated, the cloud interface 4912 candeallocate the computing resources used to run the worker node(s) 6613.

In some implementations, the worker node(s) 6613 can transmit messagesto each other using any kind of remote procedure call (RPC), such asgRPC, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), local procedure call, and/orthe like. If transmission of a message fails, a worker node 6613 mayattempt to re-send the message for a time period (e.g., an exponentialbackoff period up to, for example, a 15 second timeout), after which thejourney instance building process may fail and be restarted.

In further implementations, instead of having each worker node 6613transmit individual messages (e.g., individual transmissions of tuples,individual messages indicating that a phase is complete, individualtransmissions of event data, etc.), a worker node 6613 can transmit abatch message that includes multiple tuples, event data, or otherinformation intended for the same recipient.

FIG. 71 is a flow diagram illustrative of an implementation of a routine7100 implemented by the cloud-based hosting system 4910 to build journeyinstances in a distributed manner. Although described as beingimplemented by the cloud-based hosting system 4910, it will beunderstood that the elements outlined for routine 7100 can beimplemented by one or more computing devices/components that areassociated with the data intake and query system 108 and/or thecloud-based data intake and query system 1006. Thus, the followingillustrative implementation should not be construed as limiting.

At block 7102, event data corresponding to a first time period isobtained. For example, the event data may include a set of events, whereeach event of the set of events reflects activity in a computingenvironment that occurred within the first time period. The event datamay be uploaded from the data intake and query system 108 or thecloud-based data intake and query system 1006. The first time period maybe set by a user, and fragments of event data corresponding to the samelength of time as the first time period may be uploaded in regularintervals. The event data may include a plurality of correlationidentifiers that are associated with an instance of a journey. Forexample, a subset of the events in the set of events may be associatedwith a journey instance. The journey instance itself may represent aseries of steps of a process performed using the computing environmentand span a second time period longer than the first time period. In someinstances, correlation identifiers identify events in the set of eventsand/or in other set(s) of events that are associated with the steps ofthe process.

At block 7104, other event data corresponding to a portion of a secondtime period other than the first time period is obtained. For example,the second time period may correspond to a user-specified lookbackwindow that defines a maximum length of a journey instance. The otherevent data may have been previously uploaded to the cloud-based hostingsystem 4910 and stored locally therein.

At block 7106, a plurality of worker processes is initialized. Forexample, the worker processes may each be virtual computing devices thatare launched or initialized in order to build journey instances. Eachworker process may be in charge of building one or more journeyinstances using the uploaded event data and the other event data thatwas obtained. For example, the worker processes may be initiated toidentify the events associated with the steps of the process. The set ofevents and/or other set(s) of events can be distributed to the workerprocesses. The worker processes can determine a group of the workerprocesses that are operating on set(s) of events that include at leastone event associated with the steps of the process, where the group maybe determined using the correlation identifiers.

At block 7108, the plurality of worker processes is caused to stitch atleast a portion of the event data and at least a portion of the otherevent data to form stitched event data that includes a series of eventsconforming to the series of steps. For example, portions of the eventdata and/or the other event data may be assigned to each worker process.The plurality of worker processes may then group and reassign the eventdata and the other event data using the plurality of correlationidentifiers. The operations that may be performed by the plurality ofworkers nodes to stitch at least a portion of the event data and atleast a portion of the other event data to form stitched event data isdescribed above with respect to FIGS. 67-70 . For example, one of theworker processes in the group of worker processes can associate one ormore events associated with the steps of the process with the journeyinstance.

At block 7110, a summary of an instance of a journey is generated fromthe stitched event data. For example, the summary can include agraphical representation of the series of steps that span the secondtime period, and can be displayed by a client device 102 in a userinterface.

Fewer, more, or different blocks can be used as part of the routine7100. In some cases, one or more blocks can be omitted. Furthermore, itwill be understood that the various blocks described herein withreference to FIG. 71 can be implemented in a variety of orders, or canbe performed concurrently.

9.0. EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present disclosure can be described in view of thefollowing clauses:

-   -   Clause 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:        -   obtaining alert criteria defining a plurality of alert            states, each alert state defining a criterion by which to            evaluate instances of a journey and, if the journey            instances meet the criterion, to generate an alert;        -   executing, at a data store of unstructured event data, a            query for the journey instances, each journey instances            comprising a series of events, from events within the            unstructured event data;        -   generating, from query results responsive to the query, a            structured data set of the journey instances, the structured            data set comprising each of the journey instances as a            distinct entry within the structured data set;        -   evaluating the entries of the structured data set according            to the criterion of each of the plurality of alert states to            determine at least one alert state whose criterion is met by            the journey instances identified within the unstructured            event data; and        -   transmitting a notification of the at least one alert state            to a client computing device.    -   Clause 2. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the events within the unstructured event data are handled as        information not delineated by a pre-defined data structure.    -   Clause 3. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        entries within the structured data set are handled as        information delineated by a pre-defined data structure.    -   Clause 4. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        entries within the structured data set are handled as        information delineated as columns within a pre-defined data        structure.    -   Clause 5. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        entries within the structured data set are handled as        information delineated as columns within a pre-defined data        structure, the columns comprising one or more of beginning        timestamps of journey instances, ending timestamps of journey        instances, identifiers of a journey instances, or stitching        identifiers of journey instances.    -   Clause 6. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the notification includes a link to a display page, and wherein        the method further comprises:        -   obtaining a request for the display page from the client            computing device; and        -   transmitting, to the client computing device, a subset of            the journey instances identified within the unstructured            event data, instances within the subset conforming to the            criterion of the at least one alert state.    -   Clause 7. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the notification includes a link to a display page, and wherein        the method further comprises:        -   obtaining a request for the display page from the client            computing device;        -   transmitting, to the client computing device, a subset of            the journey instances identified within the unstructured            event data, instances within the subset conforming to the            criterion of the at least one alert state;        -   receiving selection of a journey instance within the subset,            the selected journey instance associated with a time range            and one or more stitching identifiers;        -   querying the data store of unstructured event data, based at            least partly on the time range and the one or more stitching            identifiers, for the series of events representing the            selected journey instance; and        -   returning the series of events represented the selected            journey instance to the client computing device.    -   Clause 8. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the journey represents a series of steps, each journey instance        comprising a series of events conforming to the series of steps.    -   Clause 9. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the criterion of each alert state represents a combination of        instance criterion defining matching instances and notification        criterion defining a number of matching instances required to        indicate the alert state.    -   Clause 10. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the criterion of each alert state represents a combination of        instance criterion defining matching instances and notification        criterion defining a number of matching instances required to        indicate the alert state, and wherein the instance criterion        specifies at least one of: a required step, a required series of        steps, a required attribute value, a required duration of        instances meeting the criterion, a required duration between at        least two steps, a required repetition of at least one step, a        required start time, a required stop time, a required starting        step, a required ending step, or a required ordering of at least        two steps.    -   Clause 11. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the criterion of each alert state represents a combination of        instance criterion defining matching instances and notification        criterion defining a number of matching instances required to        indicate the alert state, and the notification criterion        specifies at least one of a minimum absolute number of matching        instances, a maximum absolute number of matching instances, a        minimum proportion of matching instances, and a maximum        proportion of matching instances.    -   Clause 12. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the method is repeated at each of a set of periods.    -   Clause 13. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the method is repeated at each of a set of periods, and wherein        the method further comprises storing the structured data set as        a record of instances associated with a current period of the        set of periods.    -   Clause 14. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the method is repeated at each of a set of periods, wherein each        of the plurality of alert states is associated with a        periodicity, and wherein the periods are determined based on a        minimum periodicity among the plurality of alert states.    -   Clause 15. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the query is limited to events within the unstructured event        data occurring within a specified time range.    -   Clause 16. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the query is limited to events within the unstructured event        data occurring within a specified time range, and wherein the        specified time range is determined based on a maximum duration        of the journey.    -   Clause 17. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the unstructured event data comprises raw machine data.    -   Clause 18. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the unstructured event data comprises raw machine data obtained        from heterogeneous data sources and formatted according to        heterogeneous data formats.    -   Clause 19. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the structured data set is a columnar time series data set.    -   Clause 20. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        evaluating the entries of the structured data set according to        the criterion of each of the plurality of alert states further        determines at least one alert state whose criterion is not met        by the journey instances identified within the unstructured        event data.    -   Clause 21. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        executing the query for the journey instances comprises, for        each journey instance, stitching together the series of events        of the instance based on a field value shared among the series        of events.    -   Clause 22. A system comprising:        -   a data store including computer-executable instructions; and        -   a processor in communication with the data store and            configured to execute the computer-executable instructions            to:            -   obtain alert criteria defining a plurality of alert                states, each alert state defining a criterion by which                to evaluate instances of a journey and, if the journey                instances meet the criterion, to generate an alert;            -   execute, at a data store of unstructured event data, a                query for the journey instances, each journey instances                comprising a series of events, from events within the                unstructured event data;            -   generate, from query results responsive to the query, a                structured data set of the journey instances, the                structured data set comprising each of the journey                instances as a distinct entry within the structured data                set;            -   evaluate the entries of the structured data set                according to the criterion of each of the plurality of                alert states to determine at least one alert state whose                criterion is met by the journey instances identified                within the unstructured event data; and            -   transmit a notification of the at least one alert state                to a client computing device.    -   Clause 23. The system of Clause 22, wherein the notification        includes a link to a display page, and wherein the processor is        further configured to execute the computer-executable        instructions to:        -   obtain a request for the display page from the client            computing device; and        -   transmit, to the client computing device, a subset of the            journey instances identified within the unstructured event            data, instances within the subset conforming to the            criterion of the at least one alert state.    -   Clause 24. The system of Clause 22, wherein the notification        includes a link to a display page, and wherein the processor is        further configured to execute the computer-executable        instructions to:        -   obtain a request for the display page from the client            computing device;        -   transmit, to the client computing device, a subset of the            journey instances identified within the unstructured event            data, instances within the subset conforming to the            criterion of the at least one alert state;        -   receive selection of a journey instance within the subset,            the selected journey instance associated with a time range            and one or more stitching identifiers;        -   query the data store of unstructured event data, based at            least partly on the time range and the one or more stitching            identifiers, for the series of events representing the            selected journey instance; and        -   return the series of events represented the selected journey            instance to the client computing device.    -   Clause 25. The system of Clause 22, wherein the processor is        further configured to execute the computer-executable        instructions at each of a set of periods, and wherein the        computer-executable instructions further cause the processor to        store the structured data set as a record of instances        associated with a current period of the set of periods.    -   Clause 26. Non-transitory computer-readable media comprising        computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a        computing system, cause the computing system to:        -   obtain alert criteria defining a plurality of alert states,            each alert state defining a criterion by which to evaluate            instances of a journey and, if the journey instances meet            the criterion, to generate an alert;        -   execute, at a data store of unstructured event data, a query            for the journey instances, each journey instances comprising            a series of events, from events within the unstructured            event data;        -   generate, from query results responsive to the query, a            structured data set of the journey instances, the structured            data set comprising each of the journey instances as a            distinct entry within the structured data set;        -   evaluate the entries of the structured data set according to            the criterion of each of the plurality of alert states to            determine at least one alert state whose criterion is met by            the journey instances identified within the unstructured            event data; and        -   transmit a notification of the at least one alert state to a            client computing device.    -   Clause 27. The non-transitory computer-readable media of Clause        26, wherein the notification includes a link to a display page,        and wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause        the computing system to:        -   obtain a request for the display page from the client            computing device; and        -   transmit, to the client computing device, a subset of the            journey instances identified within the unstructured event            data, instances within the subset conforming to the            criterion of the at least one alert state.    -   Clause 28. The non-transitory computer-readable media of Clause        26, wherein the notification includes a link to a display page,        and wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause        the computing system to:        -   obtain a request for the display page from the client            computing device;        -   transmit, to the client computing device, a subset of the            journey instances identified within the unstructured event            data, instances within the subset conforming to the            criterion of the at least one alert state;        -   receive selection of a journey instance within the subset,            the selected journey instance associated with a time range            and one or more stitching identifiers;        -   query the data store of unstructured event data, based at            least partly on the time range and the one or more stitching            identifiers, for the series of events representing the            selected journey instance; and        -   return the series of events represented the selected journey            instance to the client computing device.    -   Clause 29. The non-transitory computer-readable media of Clause        26, wherein the computer-executable instructions are first        computer-executable instructions, and wherein the media further        comprises second computer-executable instructions that cause the        computing system to repeat execution of the first        computer-executable instructions at each of a set of periods        and, at each period, to store the structured data set as a        record of instances associated with the period.    -   Clause 30. The non-transitory computer-readable media of Clause        26, wherein the query is limited to events within the        unstructured event data occurring within a specified time range,        and wherein the specified time range is determined based on a        maximum duration of the journey

Additional embodiments of the present disclosure can be described inview of the following clauses:

-   -   Clause 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:        -   executing, on a data store of unstructured event data, a            query for instances of a journey representing a series of            steps;        -   obtaining, in response to the query, query results            representing one or more complete journey instances and one            or more partial journey instances, each of the one or more            complete journey instances representing a series of events            conforming to an entirety of the series of steps and each of            the one or more partial journey instances representing at            least one event conforming to a beginning of the series of            steps;        -   updating a structured data store with the query results            obtained from the unstructured event data, wherein the            structured data store is configured to store each journey            instance as a distinct data entry within the structured data            store, and wherein updating the structured data store            comprises replacing an existing data entry within the            structured data store representing a partial journey            instance with a new data entry representing a complete            journey instance corresponding to the partial journey            instance; and        -   generating, from the data entries of the structured data            store, a summary of the journey instances within the            unstructured event data formatted for display on a client            computing device.    -   Clause 2. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the events within the unstructured event data are handled as        information not delineated by a pre-defined data structure.    -   Clause 3. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        entries within the structured data store are handled as        information delineated by a pre-defined data structure.    -   Clause 4. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        entries within the structured data store are handled as        information delineated as columns within a pre-defined data        structure.    -   Clause 5. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the structured data store is a columnar time series data store.    -   Clause 6. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        entries within the structured data store are handled as        information delineated as columns within a pre-defined data        structure, the columns comprising one or more of beginning        timestamps of journey instances, ending timestamps of journey        instances, identifiers of a journey instances, or stitching        identifiers of journey instances.    -   Clause 7. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the query results represent journey instances associated with a        time range, and wherein updating the structured data store with        the query results comprises deleting past entries within the        structured data store that are associated with the time range        and entering the query results into the structured data store.    -   Clause 8. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the method is repeated at each period of a set of periods,        wherein each set of query results represent journey instances        associated with a time range that is greater than a duration of        each period, and wherein each set of query results partially        overlaps in time with a prior set of query results.    -   Clause 9. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the method is repeated at each period of a set of periods, and        wherein the one or more partial journey instances are        indistinguishable from the one or more complete journey        instances at a current period.    -   Clause 10. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the query is limited to events within the unstructured event        data occurring within a specified time range.    -   Clause 11. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the query is limited to events within the unstructured event        data occurring within a specified time range, and wherein the        specified time range is determined based on a maximum duration        of the journey.    -   Clause 12. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the unstructured event data comprises raw machine data.    -   Clause 13. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the unstructured event data comprises raw machine data obtained        from heterogeneous data sources and formatted according to        heterogeneous data formats.    -   Clause 14. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        executing the query for the journey instances comprises, for        each journey instance, stitching together the series of events        of the instance based on a field value shared among the series        of events.    -   Clause 15. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the unstructured event data is held within a single-tenanted        data store of a first environment, and wherein the structured        data store is maintained within a multi-tenanted hosted        computing environment distinct from the first environment.    -   Clause 16. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the unstructured event data is held within a single-tenanted        data store of a first environment, and wherein the structured        data store is maintained within a multi-tenanted hosted        computing environment distinct from the first environment, and        wherein each data entry within the structured data store is        associated with a journey identifier distinguishing instances of        the journey from instances of other journeys of other tenants of        the multi-tenanted hosted computing environment.    -   Clause 17. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the unstructured event data is held within a single-tenanted        data store of a first environment, and wherein the structured        data store is maintained within a multi-tenanted hosted        computing environment distinct from the first environment, and        wherein each data entry within the structured data store is        associated with a journey identifier distinguishing instances of        the journey from instances of other journeys of a same tenant of        the multi-tenanted hosted computing environment.    -   Clause 18. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        each data entry within the structured data store is associated        with a time stamp and a stitching identifier of the journey        instance represented by the data entry, the stitching identifier        representing a field value identified within the unstructured        event data as shared among at least two events of the series of        events of the data entry.    -   Clause 19. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the unstructured event data is held within a data store that        maintains tombstone information identifying data removed from        the data store.    -   Clause 20. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        the unstructured event data is held within a data store that        maintains tombstone information identifying data removed from        the data store, and wherein the structured data store does not        maintain information identifying data removed from the data        store.    -   Clause 21. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        generating the summary of the journey instances comprises:        -   receiving a request for the summary from a client computing            device;        -   transmitting one or more queries to the structured data            store based on the request;        -   obtaining results of the one or more queries; and        -   formatting the results as the summary of journey instances.    -   Clause 22. The computer-implemented method of Clause 1, wherein        generating the summary of the journey instances comprises:        -   receiving a request for the summary from a client computing            device as a call to an application programming interface            (API);        -   transmitting one or more queries to the structured data            store, the one or more queries determined based on a            predefined correspondence between the one or more queries            and the call to the API;        -   obtaining results of the one or more queries; and        -   formatting the results as the summary of journey instances.    -   Clause 23. A system comprising:        -   a data store including computer-executable instructions; and        -   a processor in communication with the data store and            configured to execute the computer-executable instructions            to:            -   execute, on a data store of unstructured event data, a                query for instances of a journey representing a series                of steps;            -   obtain, in response to the query, query results                representing one or more complete journey instances and                one or more partial journey instances, each of the one                or more complete journey instances representing a series                of events conforming to an entirety of the series of                steps and each of the one or more partial journey                instances representing at least one event conforming to                a beginning of the series of steps;            -   update a structured data store with the query results                obtained from the unstructured event data, wherein the                structured data store is configured to store each                journey instance as a distinct data entry within the                structured data store, and wherein updating the                structured data store comprises replacing an existing                data entry within the structured data store representing                a partial journey instance with a new data entry                representing a complete journey instance corresponding                to the partial journey instance; and            -   generate, from the data entries of the structured data                store, a summary of the journey instances within the                unstructured event data formatted for display on a                client computing device.    -   Clause 24. The system of Clause 23, wherein the query results        represent journey instances associated with a time range, and        wherein updating the structured data store with the query        results comprises deleting past entries within the structured        data store that are associated with the time range and entering        the query results into the structured data store.    -   Clause 25. The system of Clause 23, wherein the processor is        configured to execute the computer-executable instructions at        each period of a set of periods, wherein each set of query        results represent journey instances associated with a time range        that is greater than a duration of each period, and wherein each        set of query results partially overlaps in time with a prior set        of query results.    -   Clause 26. The system of Clause 23, wherein the unstructured        event data is held within a single-tenanted data store of a        first environment, and wherein the structured data store is        maintained within a multi-tenanted hosted computing environment        distinct from the first environment.    -   Clause 27. Non-transitory computer-readable media comprising        computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a        computing system, cause the computing system to:        -   execute, on a data store of unstructured event data, a query            for instances of a journey representing a series of steps;        -   obtain, in response to the query, query results representing            one or more complete journey instances and one or more            partial journey instances, each of the one or more complete            journey instances representing a series of events conforming            to an entirety of the series of steps and each of the one or            more partial journey instances representing at least one            event conforming to a beginning of the series of steps;        -   update a structured data store with the query results            obtained from the unstructured event data, wherein the            structured data store is configured to store each journey            instance as a distinct data entry within the structured data            store, and wherein updating the structured data store            comprises replacing an existing data entry within the            structured data store representing a partial journey            instance with a new data entry representing a complete            journey instance corresponding to the partial journey            instance; and        -   generate, from the data entries of the structured data            store, a summary of the journey instances within the            unstructured event data formatted for display on a client            computing device.    -   Clause 28. The non-transitory computer-readable media of Clause        27, wherein the query results represent journey instances        associated with a time range, and wherein updating the        structured data store with the query results comprises deleting        past entries within the structured data store that are        associated with the time range and entering the query results        into the structured data store.    -   Clause 29. The non-transitory computer-readable media of Clause        27, wherein the computer-executable instructions are first        computer-executable instructions, and wherein the media        comprises second computer-executable instructions that cause the        computing system to repeatedly execute the first        computer-executable instructions at each period of a set of        periods, wherein each set of query results represent journey        instances associated with a time range that is greater than a        duration of each period, and wherein each set of query results        partially overlaps in time with a prior set of query results.    -   Clause 30. The non-transitory computer-readable media of Clause        27, wherein the unstructured event data is held within a        single-tenanted data store of a first environment, and wherein        the structured data store is maintained within a multi-tenanted        hosted computing environment distinct from the first        environment.

Additional embodiments of the present disclosure can be described inview of the following clauses:

-   -   Clause 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:        -   obtaining, at a computing device, data including a set of            events, wherein each event of the set of events reflects            activity in a computing environment that occurred within a            first time period, wherein a subset of the set of events are            associated with a journey instance, wherein the journey            instance represents a series of steps of a process performed            using the computing environment, wherein the journey            instance spans a second time period longer than the first            time period, and wherein correlation identifiers identify            events associated with the steps of the process;        -   initiating worker processes to identify the events            associated with the steps of the process;        -   distributing to the worker processes multiple sets of            events, the multiple sets of events including the set of            events;        -   determining, using the worker processes, a group of the            worker processes that are operating on a particular of the            multiple sets of events that include one or more events of            the events associated with the steps of the process, wherein            the group of the worker processes is determined using the            correlation identifiers;        -   associating, by a particular worker process of the group of            the worker processes, the one or more events with the            journey instance; and        -   configuring the one or more events for display on a client            computing device.    -   Clause 2. The computer-implemented method of clause 1, wherein        each of the multiple sets of events is associated with a        different time period that is within the second time period.    -   Clause 3. The computer-implemented method of clause 1, wherein        the set of events further includes one or more events associated        with a different journey instance.    -   Clause 4. The computer-implemented method of clause 1, wherein        each set of events from the multiple sets of events is        distributed to only one worker process.    -   Clause 5. The computer-implemented method of clause 1, further        comprising:        -   determining, by a first worker process of the worker            processes, a relation with a second worker process of the            worker processes, wherein the first worker process is            operating on a first set of events from the multiple sets of            events, wherein a first event of the first set of events is            associated with a first correlation identifier of the            correlation identifiers, wherein the second worker process            is operating on a second set of events from the multiple            sets of events, wherein a second event of the second set of            events is associated with a second correlation identifier of            the correlation identifiers, and wherein the first worker            process determines the relation from a message sent to the            first worker process by the second worker process.    -   Clause 6. The computer-implemented method of clause 1, further        comprising:        -   determining, by a first worker process of the worker            processes, a minimum correlation identifier from among            correlation identifiers associated with a first set of            events from the multiple set of events on which the first            worker process is operating; and        -   transmitting, by the first worker process, the minimum            correlation identifier to a second worker process of the            worker processes, wherein the second worker process is            associated with a correlation identifier from the            correlation identifier associated with the first set of            events.    -   Clause 7. The computer-implemented method of clause 1, further        comprising:        -   receiving, by a first worker process of the worker            processes, a particular correlation identifier from among            correlation identifiers associated with a first set of            events from the multiple set of events on which the first            worker process is operating;        -   determining, by the first worker process, that the            particular correlation identifier is a minimum correlation            identifier among the correlation identifiers associated with            the first set of events; and        -   storing, by the first worker process, the particular            correlation identifier as the minimum correlation            identifier.    -   Clause 8. The computer-implemented method of clause 1, further        comprising:        -   receiving, by a first worker process, a particular            correlation identifier from among correlation identifiers            associated with a first set of events from the multiple set            of events on which the first worker process is operating;            and        -   determining, by the first worker process, that the            particular correlation identifier is not a minimum            correlation identifier among the correlation identifiers            associated with the first set of events.    -   Clause 9. The computer-implemented method of clause 1, further        comprising:        -   transmitting, by the group of the worker processes, events            of the one or more events to the particular worker process.    -   Clause 10. A system comprising:        -   a data store including computer-executable instructions; and        -   one or more processors configured to execute the            computer-executable instructions, wherein execution of the            computer-executable instructions causes the system to:            -   obtain data including a set of events, wherein each                event of the set of events reflects activity in a                computing environment that occurred within a first time                period, wherein a subset of the set of events are                associated with a journey instance, wherein the journey                instance represents a series of steps of a process                performed using the computing environment, wherein the                journey instance spans a second time period longer than                the first time period, and wherein correlation                identifiers identify events associated with the steps of                the process;            -   initiate worker processes to identify the events                associated with the steps of the process;            -   distribute to the worker processes multiple sets of                events, the multiple sets of events including the set of                events;            -   determine, using the worker processes, a group of the                worker processes that are operating on a particular of                the multiple sets of events that include one or more                events of the events associated with the steps of the                process, wherein the group of the worker processes is                determined using the correlation identifiers;            -   associate, by a particular worker process of the group                of the worker processes, the one or more events with the                journey instance; and            -   configure the one or more events for display on a client                computing device.    -   Clause 11. The system of clause 10, wherein each of the multiple        sets of events is associated with a different time period that        is within the second time period.    -   Clause 12. The system of clause 10, wherein the set of events        further includes one or more events associated with a different        journey instance.    -   Clause 13. The system of clause 10, wherein each set of events        from the multiple sets of events is distributed to only one        worker process.    -   Clause 14. The system of clause 10, wherein execution of the        computer-executable instructions further causes the system to:        -   determine, by a first worker process of the worker            processes, a relation with a second worker process of the            worker processes, wherein the first worker process is            operating on a first set of events from the multiple sets of            events, wherein a first event of the first set of events is            associated with a first correlation identifier of the            correlation identifiers, wherein the second worker process            is operating on a second set of events from the multiple            sets of events, wherein a second event of the second set of            events is associated with a second correlation identifier of            the correlation identifiers, and wherein the first worker            process determines the relation from a message sent to the            first worker process by the second worker process.    -   Clause 15. The system of clause 10, wherein execution of the        computer-executable instructions further causes the system to:        -   determine, by a first worker process of the worker            processes, a minimum correlation identifier from among            correlation identifiers associated with a first set of            events from the multiple set of events on which the first            worker process is operating; and        -   transmit, by the first worker process, the minimum            correlation identifier to a second worker process of the            worker processes, wherein the second worker process is            associated with a correlation identifier from the            correlation identifier associated with the first set of            events.    -   Clause 16. The system of clause 10, wherein execution of the        computer-executable instructions further causes the system to:        -   receive, by a first worker process of the worker processes,            a particular correlation identifier from among correlation            identifiers associated with a first set of events from the            multiple set of events on which the first worker process is            operating;        -   determine, by the first worker process, that the particular            correlation identifier is a minimum correlation identifier            among the correlation identifiers associated with the first            set of events; and        -   store, by the first worker process, the particular            correlation identifier as the minimum correlation            identifier.    -   Clause 17. The system of clause 10, wherein execution of the        computer-executable instructions further causes the system to:        -   receive, by a first worker process, a particular correlation            identifier from among correlation identifiers associated            with a first set of events from the multiple set of events            on which the first worker process is operating; and        -   determine, by the first worker process, that the particular            correlation identifier is not a minimum correlation            identifier among the correlation identifiers associated with            the first set of events.    -   Clause 18. The system of clause 10, wherein execution of the        computer-executable instructions further causes the system to:        -   transmit, by the group of the worker processes, events of            the one or more events to the particular worker process.    -   Clause 19. Non-transitory computer-readable media including        computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a        computing system, cause the computing system to:        -   obtain data including a set of events, wherein each event of            the set of events reflects activity in a computing            environment that occurred within a first time period,            wherein a subset of the set of events are associated with a            journey instance, wherein the journey instance represents a            series of steps of a process performed using the computing            environment, wherein the journey instance spans a second            time period longer than the first time period, and wherein            correlation identifiers identify events associated with the            steps of the process;        -   initiate worker processes to identify the events associated            with the steps of the process;        -   distribute to the worker processes multiple sets of events,            the multiple sets of events including the set of events;        -   determine, using the worker processes, a group of the worker            processes that are operating on a particular of the multiple            sets of events that include one or more events of the events            associated with the steps of the process, wherein the group            of the worker processes is determined using the correlation            identifiers;        -   associate, by a particular worker process of the group of            the worker processes, the one or more events with the            journey instance; and    -   configure the one or more events for display on a client        computing device.    -   Clause 20. The non-transitory computer-readable media of clause        19, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed,        further cause the computing system to:        -   determine, by a first worker process of the worker            processes, a minimum correlation identifier from among            correlation identifiers associated with a first set of            events from the multiple set of events on which the first            worker process is operating; and        -   transmit, by the first worker process, the minimum            correlation identifier to a second worker process of the            worker processes, wherein the second worker process is            associated with a correlation identifier from the            correlation identifier associated with the first set of            events.

10.0. EXAMPLE HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE

FIG. 72 is a block diagram illustrating a high-level example of ahardware architecture of a computing system in which an embodiment maybe implemented. For example, the hardware architecture of a computingsystem 72 can be used to implement any one or more of the functionalcomponents described herein (e.g., indexer, data intake and querysystem, search head, data store, server computer system, edge device,cloud-based hosting system, etc.). In some embodiments, one or multipleinstances of the computing system 72 can be used to implement thetechniques described herein, where multiple such instances can becoupled to each other via one or more networks.

The illustrated computing system 72 includes one or more processingdevices 74, one or more memory devices 76, one or more communicationdevices 78, one or more input/output (I/O) devices 80, and one or moremass storage devices 82, all coupled to each other through aninterconnect 84. The interconnect 84 may be or include one or moreconductive traces, buses, point-to-point connections, controllers,adapters, and/or other conventional connection devices. Each of theprocessing devices 74 controls, at least in part, the overall operationof the processing of the computing system 72 and can be or include, forexample, one or more general-purpose programmable microprocessors,digital signal processors (DSPs), mobile application processors,microcontrollers, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs),programmable gate arrays (PGAs), or the like, or a combination of suchdevices.

Each of the memory devices 76 can be or include one or more physicalstorage devices, which may be in the form of random access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM) (which may be erasable and programmable), flashmemory, miniature hard disk drive, or other suitable type of storagedevice, or a combination of such devices. Each mass storage device 82can be or include one or more hard drives, digital versatile disks(DVDs), flash memories, or the like. Each memory device 76 and/or massstorage device 82 can store (individually or collectively) data andinstructions that configure the processing device(s) 74 to executeoperations to implement the techniques described above.

Each communication device 78 may be or include, for example, an Ethernetadapter, cable modem, Wi-Fi adapter, cellular transceiver, basebandprocessor, Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transceiver, or thelike, or a combination thereof. Depending on the specific nature andpurpose of the processing devices 74, each I/O device 80 can be orinclude a device such as a display (which may be a touch screendisplay), audio speaker, keyboard, mouse or other pointing device,microphone, camera, etc. Note, however, that such I/O devices 80 may beunnecessary if the processing device 74 is embodied solely as a servercomputer.

In the case of a client device (e.g., edge device), the communicationdevices(s) 78 can be or include, for example, a cellulartelecommunications transceiver (e.g., 3G, LTE/4G, 5G), Wi-Fitransceiver, baseband processor, Bluetooth or BLE transceiver, or thelike, or a combination thereof. In the case of a server, thecommunication device(s) 78 can be or include, for example, any of theaforementioned types of communication devices, a wired Ethernet adapter,cable modem, DSL modem, or the like, or a combination of such devices.

A software program or algorithm, when referred to as “implemented in acomputer-readable storage medium,” includes computer-readableinstructions stored in a memory device (e.g., memory device(s) 76). Aprocessor (e.g., processing device(s) 74) is “configured to execute asoftware program” when at least one value associated with the softwareprogram is stored in a register that is readable by the processor. Insome embodiments, routines executed to implement the disclosedtechniques may be implemented as part of OS software (e.g., MICROSOFTWINDOWS® and LINUX®) or a specific software application, algorithmcomponent, program, object, module, or sequence of instructions referredto as “computer programs.”

Any or all of the features and functions described above can be combinedwith each other, except to the extent it may be otherwise stated aboveor to the extent that any such embodiments may be incompatible by virtueof their function or structure, as will be apparent to persons ofordinary skill in the art. Unless contrary to physical possibility, itis envisioned that (i) the methods/steps described herein may beperformed in any sequence and/or in any combination, and (ii) thecomponents of respective embodiments may be combined in any manner.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or acts, it is to be understood that the subjectmatter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to thespecific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific featuresand acts described above are disclosed as examples of implementing theclaims, and other equivalent features and acts are intended to be withinthe scope of the claims.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to anexclusive or exhaustive sense, i.e., in the sense of “including, but notlimited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” or anyvariant thereof means any connection or coupling, either direct orindirect, between two or more elements; the coupling or connectionbetween the elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof.Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similarimport, when used in this application, refer to this application as awhole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where thecontext permits, words using the singular or plural number may alsoinclude the plural or singular number respectively. The word “or” inreference to a list of two or more items, covers all of the followinginterpretations of the word: any one of the items in the list, all ofthe items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.Likewise the term “and/or” in reference to a list of two or more items,covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any one of theitems in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination ofthe items in the list.

Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y and Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with thecontext as used in general to convey that an item, term, etc. may beeither X, Y or Z, or any combination thereof. Thus, such conjunctivelanguage is not generally intended to imply that certain embodimentsrequire at least one of X, at least one of Y and at least one of Z toeach be present. Further, use of the phrase “at least one of X, Y or Z”as used in general is to convey that an item, term, etc. may be eitherX, Y or Z, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, certain operations, acts, events, or functions ofany of the algorithms described herein can be performed in a differentsequence, can be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g., not allare necessary for the practice of the algorithms). In certainembodiments, operations, acts, functions, or events can be performedconcurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing, interruptprocessing, or multiple processors or processor cores or on otherparallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware,hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardwaresuitable for the purposes described. Software and other modules mayreside and execute on servers, workstations, personal computers,computerized tablets, PDAs, and other computing devices suitable for thepurposes described herein. Software and other modules may be accessiblevia local computer memory, via a network, via a browser, or via othermeans suitable for the purposes described herein. Data structuresdescribed herein may comprise computer files, variables, programmingarrays, programming structures, or any electronic information storageschemes or methods, or any combinations thereof, suitable for thepurposes described herein. User interface elements described herein maycomprise elements from graphical user interfaces, interactive voiceresponse, command line interfaces, and other suitable interfaces.

Further, processing of the various components of the illustrated systemscan be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and othercomputing resources. Two or more components of a system can be combinedinto fewer components. Various components of the illustrated systems canbe implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather than in dedicatedcomputer hardware systems and/or computing devices. Likewise, the datarepositories shown can represent physical and/or logical data storage,including, e.g., storage area networks or other distributed storagesystems. Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between thecomponents shown represent possible paths of data flow, rather thanactual connections between hardware. While some examples of possibleconnections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown cancommunicate with any other subset of components in variousimplementations.

Embodiments are also described above with reference to flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products. Each block of the flow chart illustrationsand/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions. Such instructions may be provided to a processorof a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,specially-equipped computer (e.g., comprising a high-performancedatabase server, a graphics subsystem, etc.) or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor(s) of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing the actsspecified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks. Thesecomputer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to operate in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the acts specified in the flow chart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded to a computing device or other programmable data processingapparatus to cause operations to be performed on the computing device orother programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented processsuch that the instructions which execute on the computing device orother programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the actsspecified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Any patents and applications and other references noted above, includingany that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporatedherein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, ifnecessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the variousreferences described above to provide yet further implementations of theinvention. These and other changes can be made to the invention in lightof the above Detailed Description. While the above description describescertain examples of the invention, and describes the best modecontemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, theinvention can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may varyconsiderably in its specific implementation, while still beingencompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above,particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspectsof the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology isbeing redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics,features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology isassociated. In general, the terms used in the following claims shouldnot be construed to limit the invention to the specific examplesdisclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Descriptionsection explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope ofthe invention encompasses not only the disclosed examples, but also allequivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under theclaims.

To reduce the number of claims, certain aspects of the invention arepresented below in certain claim forms, but the applicant contemplatesother aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. Forexample, while only one aspect of the invention is recited as ameans-plus-function claim under 35 U.S.C. sec. 112(f) (AIA), otheraspects may likewise be embodied as a means-plus-function claim, or inother forms, such as being embodied in a computer-readable medium. Anyclaims intended to be treated under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) will begin withthe words “means for,” but use of the term “for” in any other context isnot intended to invoke treatment under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f). Accordingly,the applicant reserves the right to pursue additional claims afterfiling this application, in either this application or in a continuingapplication.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:obtaining, at a computing device, data including a first set of eventsuploaded by a first entity, wherein each event of the first set ofevents reflects activity in a computing environment that occurred withina first time period, wherein a subset of the first set of events areassociated together as part of a journey instance, wherein the journeyinstance represents a series of steps of a process performed using thecomputing environment, wherein the journey instance spans a second timeperiod longer than the first time period, and wherein correlationidentifiers identify events associated with the steps of the process;initiating a plurality of worker processes to identify the eventsassociated with the steps of the process; obtaining a second set ofevents from a second entity different than the first entity, wherein thesecond set of events is uploaded to the second entity prior to the firstset of events being uploaded by the first entity; distributing to theplurality of worker processes the first set of events and the second setof events; determining, using the plurality of worker processes, asubset of the plurality of worker processes that are operating on one ormore events in at least one of the first set of events or the second setof events that are also events associated with the steps of the process,wherein the subset of the plurality of worker processes is determinedusing the correlation identifiers; associating, by a particular workerprocess of the subset of the plurality of worker processes, the one ormore events with the journey instance; and configuring the one or moreevents for display on a client computing device.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of the first set ofevents or second set of events is associated with a different timeperiod that is within the second time period.
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first set of eventsfurther includes one or more events associated together as part of adifferent journey instance.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the first set of events and the second set of events are eachdistributed to only one worker process.
 5. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by a first workerprocess of the plurality of worker processes, a relation with a secondworker process of the plurality of worker processes, wherein the firstworker process is operating on the first set of events, wherein a firstevent of the first set of events is associated with a first correlationidentifier of the correlation identifiers, wherein the second workerprocess is operating on the second set of events, wherein a second eventof the second set of events is associated with a second correlationidentifier of the correlation identifiers, and wherein the first workerprocess determines the relation from a message sent to the first workerprocess by the second worker process.
 6. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, further comprising: determining, by a first worker processof the plurality of worker processes, a minimum correlation identifierfrom among correlation identifiers associated with the first set ofevents on which the first worker process is operating; and transmitting,by the first worker process, the minimum correlation identifier to asecond worker process of the plurality of worker processes, wherein thesecond worker process is associated with a correlation identifier fromthe correlation identifier associated with the first set of events. 7.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving, by a first worker process of the plurality of workerprocesses, a particular correlation identifier from among correlationidentifiers associated with the first set of events on which the firstworker process is operating; determining, by the first worker process,that the particular correlation identifier is a minimum correlationidentifier among the correlation identifiers associated with the firstset of events; and storing, by the first worker process, the particularcorrelation identifier as the minimum correlation identifier.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving,by a first worker process in the plurality of worker processes, aparticular correlation identifier from among correlation identifiersassociated with the first set of events on which the first workerprocess is operating; and determining, by the first worker process, thatthe particular correlation identifier is not a minimum correlationidentifier among the correlation identifiers associated with the firstset of events.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: transmitting, by the subset of the plurality of workerprocesses, events of the one or more events to the particular workerprocess.
 10. A system comprising: a data store includingcomputer-executable instructions; and one or more processors configuredto execute the computer-executable instructions, wherein execution ofthe computer-executable instructions causes the system to: obtain dataincluding a first set of events uploaded by a first entity, wherein eachevent of the first set of events reflects activity in a computingenvironment that occurred within a first time period, wherein a subsetof the first set of events are associated together as part of a journeyinstance, wherein the journey instance represents a series of steps of aprocess performed using the computing environment, wherein the journeyinstance spans a second time period longer than the first time period,and wherein correlation identifiers identify events associated with thesteps of the process; initiate a plurality of worker processes toidentify the events associated with the steps of the process; obtain asecond set of events from a second entity different than the firstentity, wherein the second set of events is uploaded to the secondentity prior to the first set of events being uploaded by the firstentity; distribute to the plurality of worker processes the first set ofevents and the second set of events; determine, using the plurality ofworker processes, a subset of the plurality of worker processes that areoperating on one or more events in at least one of the first set ofevents or the second set of events that are also events associated withthe steps of the process, wherein the subset of the plurality of workerprocesses is determined using the correlation identifiers; associate, bya particular worker process of the subset of the plurality of workerprocesses, the one or more events with the journey instance; andconfigure the one or more events for display on a client computingdevice.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the first set ofevents or second set of events is associated with a different timeperiod that is within the second time period.
 12. The system of claim10, wherein the first set of events further includes one or more eventsassociated together as part of a different journey instance.
 13. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the first set of events and the second setof events are each distributed to only one worker process.
 14. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein execution of the computer-executableinstructions further causes the system to: determine, by a first workerprocess of the plurality of worker processes, a relation with a secondworker process of the plurality of worker processes, wherein the firstworker process is operating on the first set of events, wherein a firstevent of the first set of events is associated with a first correlationidentifier of the correlation identifiers, wherein the second workerprocess is operating on the second set of events, wherein a second eventof the second set of events is associated with a second correlationidentifier of the correlation identifiers, and wherein the first workerprocess determines the relation from a message sent to the first workerprocess by the second worker process.
 15. The system of claim 10,wherein execution of the computer-executable instructions further causesthe system to: determine, by a first worker process of the plurality ofworker processes, a minimum correlation identifier from amongcorrelation identifiers associated with the first set of events on whichthe first worker process is operating; and transmit, by the first workerprocess, the minimum correlation identifier to a second worker processof the plurality of worker processes, wherein the second worker processis associated with a correlation identifier from the correlationidentifier associated with the first set of events.
 16. The system ofclaim 10, wherein execution of the computer-executable instructionsfurther causes the system to: receive, by a first worker process of theplurality of worker processes, a particular correlation identifier fromamong correlation identifiers associated with the first set of events onwhich the first worker process is operating; determine, by the firstworker process, that the particular correlation identifier is a minimumcorrelation identifier among the correlation identifiers associated withthe first set of events; and store, by the first worker process, theparticular correlation identifier as the minimum correlation identifier.17. The system of claim 10, wherein execution of the computer-executableinstructions further causes the system to: receive, by a first workerprocess in the plurality of worker processes, a particular correlationidentifier from among correlation identifiers associated with the firstset of events on which the first worker process is operating; anddetermine, by the first worker process, that the particular correlationidentifier is not a minimum correlation identifier among the correlationidentifiers associated with the first set of events.
 18. The system ofclaim 10, wherein execution of the computer-executable instructionsfurther causes the system to: transmit, by the subset of the pluralityof worker processes, events of the one or more events to the particularworker process.
 19. Non-transitory computer-readable media includingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computingsystem, cause the computing system to: obtain data including a first setof events uploaded by a first entity, wherein each event of the firstset of events reflects activity in a computing environment that occurredwithin a first time period, wherein a subset of the first set of eventsare associated together as part of a journey instance, wherein thejourney instance represents a series of steps of a process performedusing the computing environment, wherein the journey instance spans asecond time period longer than the first time period, and whereincorrelation identifiers identify events associated with the steps of theprocess; initiate a plurality of worker processes to identify the eventsassociated with the steps of the process; obtain a second set of eventsfrom a second entity different than the first entity, wherein the secondset of events is uploaded to the second entity prior to the first set ofevents being uploaded by the first entity; distribute to the pluralityof worker processes the first set of events and the second set ofevents; determine, using the plurality of worker processes, a subset ofthe plurality of worker processes that are operating on one or moreevents in at least one of the first set of events or the second set ofevents that are also events associated with the steps of the process,wherein the subset of the plurality of worker processes is determinedusing the correlation identifiers; associate, by a particular workerprocess of the subset of the plurality of worker processes, the one ormore events with the journey instance; and configure the one or moreevents for display on a client computing device.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 19, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed, further cause the computing system to:determine, by a first worker process of the plurality of workerprocesses, a minimum correlation identifier from among correlationidentifiers associated with the first set of events on which the firstworker process is operating; and transmit, by the first worker process,the minimum correlation identifier to a second worker process of theplurality of worker processes, wherein the second worker process isassociated with a correlation identifier from the correlation identifierassociated with the first set of events.